#1031 Pentecost, Part 6

1031 Pentecost, Part 6 Transcription

Good morning. Take your Bibles and go to Acts chapter 1. The reason why I brought my wife before you this morning is that without her I could do nothing. She has stood by my side for many, many years. I am not a hard person to live with, but she has never left me. She has never forsaken me. She has always had my back, and I trust my life to her. And it's because of her that we're able to do what we're able to do.

Acts 1:10-12 ¹⁰And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men (or two angels) stood by them in white apparel; ¹¹Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. ¹²Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.

Immediately following Christ's ascension into heaven at the end of his earthly ministry, two angels appeared to the astonished disciples and spoke words of encouragement to comfort them. The first truth that the angels spoke to the apostles on that day was the truth about the return of Jesus Christ. The angels gave them the hope of the return of Jesus Christ.

The knowledge of the second coming of the Lord was written throughout the pages of both the Old and the New Testament. The Day of the Lord is spoken of many times. We looked at the book of Zechariah where the prophet pinpointed the exact geographic location where Christ would return and then fight the battle of Armageddon. It said that his feet would touch the Mount of Olives and in that day there would be a big earthquake.

The Mount of Olives is just east of Jerusalem, and to this day remains east of Jerusalem. It retains its ancient name and location. And this can be checked out quickly in any Atlas; in any Bible dictionary. Verse 12 says, "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, the Sabbath day's journey; a Sabbath day's journey." And that's what I want to look at with you this morning is what exactly is a Sabbath day's journey.

Luke 24:49-51⁴⁹And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. ⁵⁰And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. ⁵¹And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

It says they came unto Jerusalem from the Mount called "Olivet" (the Mount of Olives). So they came to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. They traveled from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. Luke chapter 24. In Luke 24, beginning in verse 49, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, his apostles on the Day of the Ascension. Okay. He led led them out as far as Bethany. That's what the scripture teaches.

Bethany was a village at the Mount of Olives. Okay? It's about 3 kilometers from Jerusalem and its on or it's near the normal road to Jericho. 3 kilometers is approximately 1.8 miles.. So with this information, we can determine the approximate distance from Jerusalem to Bethany.

If a kilometer is 1.8 miles, we can take that and we can apply that term to see how far Jerusalem is from Bethany. Now Jerusalem is farther than that from Bethany, just so you know. Okay? But that's what a kilometer is.

Mark 11:1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,

In Mark 11 again we see that they came nigh to Jerusalem; and they came to Bethany at the Mount of Olives. So the Mount of Olives was nigh; it was near Jerusalem, alright?

Luke 19:29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples;

One biblical resource writes, "The village of Bethany may justifiably be called the Jerusalem home of Jesus Christ, as he appears to have preferred to lodge there rather than Jerusalem itself." Now there were many memorable events that took place at Bethany. This is where the Mount of Olives is; at Bethany.

Mark14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

Mark14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

In Mark 14:3, he sat; he had a meal and then there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment so forth and so on. It was in Bethany that he was anointed with ointment before his death. In verse eight, it tells you that. Simon the leper lived in Bethany, who evidently was cured of his leprosy because he was at this house.

John 11:18-19 ¹⁸Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: ¹⁹And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

In John 11:18 we now have a distance between Jerusalem and Bethany. It's about 15 furlongs. It was in Bethany, where Martha and Mary lived. That was their home. And you know that Jesus used to frequent their home. It was in Bethany that Martha and Mary's brother also lived. And his name was Lazarus. And he was called that disciple which he loveth: Lazarus. It was in Bethany that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

Matthew 21:17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.

It was in Bethany that many times he went and he went to sleep. That's where he went to sleep; to rest. And it was in Bethany that his ascension took place.

Luke 24:50-51 ⁵⁰And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. ⁵¹And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

As he was still blessing them. What happened? He was raised up and taken away, carried away into where? Heaven. So, it was in Bethany that the Ascension took place. Now look once again in Acts 1:12.

Acts 1:12 Then returned they [the apostles] unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.,

He ascended in Bethany; the Mount of Olives. So, They returned to Jerusalem from Bethany where the Mount of Olives was. And it says it was from Jerusalem, the distance from Bethany to Jerusalem: from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem was what the Bible calls "a Sabbath day's journey".

Now you remember that I taught you that the distance between Bethany and Jerusalem was called a Sabbath day's journey here in Acts 1:12. In John it was said it was about 15 furlongs. Now this becomes a remarkably significant in light of verse 12, which says, "which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath days journey; a Sabbath days journey."

This is the only place in the Bible that that phrase is used: "a Sabbath day's journey"; and because it's only used one time in the Bible, that makes it a little bit more difficult to exactly define what a Sabbath day's journey is.

You see, the Bible interprets itself in the verse, in the context, and where it's been used before; where it's been used before. So when we take those research principles and we apply them to the Word of God, we're able to work the Word of God with a minute accuracy and find out just exactly what the Word of God is teaching us. Now, we already have eliminated one of those research principles. Because it's in the verse, it's in the context, or it's been used before. Being that this phrase occurs nowhere else in the Bible, we can't use the research principle of "it's been used before" to help us find out what a Sabbath day's journey is.

So we have to be able to apply the research principles of "it's in the verse" or "in the context". And here, it's in the immediate context that we're going to work the Word of God. So it will allow the Word of God to show you what a Sabbath day's journey is.

Along with working it in the verse, and in the context, there's another research principle that we can apply here. And we do apply it when we come across things that aren't used frequently in the Word of God. And that research principle is that we can go to secular knowledge as it applies to the culture and to the writings of that time. But we always work that in light of the Word of God, because the Word of God is our only rule of faith and practice.

Earlier on in the meeting, some of the people were talking about the production of David at Sight and Sound theater up in Lancaster and how blessed they were to go there. Well, we were blessed also. And it was a special blessing for us to take the Gerhardt's with us up to Lancaster. And I was the official chauffeur, but lo and behold on the way back we see a sign. And the sign says "Let's go Brandon! Let's go Brandon! And Brent started to laugh and everybody had a good chuckle on it.

But you see, "Let's go Brandon!" means nothing unless you understand the context of the culture that it occurs in. Alright. The phrase "Let's go Brandon!" originated from chance. Of "F* Joe Biden" - who is our current president. And people in the audience at sporting events used to chant that: "F* Joe Biden". And I won't say the whole word. "F* Joe Biden". That began early in September 2021. But on October second of 2021, during a televised interview of the Sparks 300 race winner winner, Brandon Brown, at Talladega Speedway. An NBC sports reporter, Kelly Stavitz, incorrectly described the chant in the background.

See, they were chanting "F* Joe Biden!", but because it was NBC and she wanted to conceal the disgust of the fans and she wanted to implement damage control. She incorrectly and purposely said, "They're chanting 'Let's go Brandon'." Thus the phrase, "Let's go Brandon!" has become synonymous with "F* Joe Biden."

Now you know that now, and you perhaps knew it before because you live in this culture. But if you were reading thousand years from now "Let's go Brandon" you be scratching your head. Likewise "a Sabbath day's journey."

Although it only appears once in the Bible, here in Acts chapter 1, it was a known term amongst the people in the lands and times of the Bible. It was known in the culture. And because it's only occurs once in the Bible we can't track it to get to see to allow it to define itself. So we go to the culture.

According to ancient rabbinical writings, a Sabbath day's journey was equivalent to about 2000 cubits. That was approximately 3000 to 4000 feet. Or around 3/5 to 4/5 of a mile. Rabbis and religious leaders of Christ's day set this as a limit a person could travel from his home on the Sabbath.

Exodus 16:29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

Okay. One of the Scriptures They based this on was Exodus 16:29. Now, the setting of this verse was in the wilderness where God supplied the Israelites with manna for six days for one week, but on the sixth day - the day before the weekly sabbath - he supplied twice as much so that the Hebrews would have plenty of food for both the sixth and the seventh day. So they wouldn't have to work on the seventh day.

So they looked at this verse and said, well we're going come up with this. Now read in the context, the true meaning of this verse was that they were not supposed to leave their dwellings in order to gather food on the seventh day. Many centuries later, the Pharisees, who were the theologians of their day, developed the legalistic doctrine which allowed the person to travel just a certain distance on the Sabbath day.

Acts chapter 1 reflects that distance by using the phrase "a sabbath day's journey". In Acts chapter 1, looking in the verse and in the context we can see that the phrase "a sabbath day's journey" is referring to distance and travel. You can see that right on the surface.

Now the Talmud is a large collection of writings containing a full account of the civil and religious laws of the Judeans. It was a fundamental principle; a fundamental principle of the Pharisees common to them and with all modern Orthodox Jews; that by the side of the written law. The Word of God by the side of the written law: they regarded it as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people. And there was an oral law.

There was the written law and then there was an oral law passed down through mouth. And this oral law was to complete - and did you you get that? - to complete and to explain the written law. Now the Bible says in Revelation no man should add to the book or take away from the book. But the Jews were smarter than that. So they needed something different. This oral law that was to complete and explain the written law with its numerous commentaries was called the Talmud.

The problem with this was the Pharisees corrupted just about everything that they ever touched when it came to the Word of God; just like the legalized Christian so-called leaders do today in the so-called church. Case in point: same-sex marriage.

Self-righteous, pompous, arrogant, religious leaders always fight against the truth that they know better than God. They know better than the written Word of God. In Matthew 12, I'm going to show you some of their oral laws that they adhere to and held as scripture but they weren't scripture.

Matthew 12:1-2 ¹At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. ²But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

When Jesus went through the corn his disciples were hungry so you know what they did? Grabbed themselves an ear of corn and started eating it. That's what any disciple would do. But when the Pharisees saw it, they squawked about it. They didn't like it.

Matthew 12:9-10 ⁹And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: ¹⁰And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they (the Pharisees) asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

Go down to verse nine. After he goes through that rigmarole with them and he departed thence. He went into their synagogue. The Pharisees motive was to accuse him. See, that's where their heart is. That's where their mind is. That's where their thinking is. They want to track this guy.

Matthew 12:13-14 ¹³Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. ¹⁴Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

Who does this guy happened to be? The son of God, Jesus Christ. the Messiah, the Lord. And this is how they attack him. He heals a guy in verse 13. Then after the guy got healed, the Pharisees went out held a little barbecue, a little counsel against them. And the subject of the barbecue was how they might destroy him.

Destroy him! See what a wonderful group of people they were? Can you imagine what kind of rules and regulations that they conjured up? And I use that word accurately, by the way; that they conjured up to explain the written laws of God.

Matthew 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. They didn't understand that. They missed the heart completely. And each time this happened with Jesus Christ through the scriptures, he reproved the leaders. He reproved their legalism with Scriptures. And he show them examples of their hypocrisy that they lived with from the Word of God.

It was in this light that he said the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. The lesson was clear. The sabbath was to be a blessing to man, not a religious dogma to put him in bondage.

Alfred Edersheim in his book called The Temple under the subtitle Ministry and Service. This is what he writes about the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes, "there was scarcely any divine ordinance which the rabbis by their tradition rendered more fully void and converted into a yoke "which neither our fathers nor their fathers were able to bear", than the laws concerning the sabbath.

On the other hand, the Gospels bring before us, Christ more frequently on the sabbath than any other festive occasion. It seemed to be his special day for working miracles and doing the work of his father. On the sabbath, he preached in the synagogues. He taught in the temple. He healed the sick. He came to the joyous meal with the Jews as they were known to close the day. Yet their opposition broke out most fiercely in proportion as he exhibited the true meaning and object of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:13-14 ¹³Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. ¹⁴Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

He healed a man with a withered hand. They went out to figure out how they could destroy him. It really brought out the hate in them. They hated Jesus Christ. I could see how you can hate me, because I tick people off. But how could you hate Jesus Christ? How could you hate him? He was the most loving, tender, wonderful person in the whole world. And that's how they responded to him.

Now listen. If I had an opportunity to see the Lord Jesus Christ and ask him something, Okay? I would think about that long and hard. Really, if you had a chance to ask Jesus a question or two questions. It would be a good thing, right? You'd think it through. Right? You wouldn't ask him who's going to win the Super Bowl or something stupid like that, would you? Well, maybe some people would, so they could bet.

Mark 7:5-9 ⁵Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? ⁶He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. ⁷Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. ⁸For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. ⁹And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Look at the Pharisees. Now here is a guy and he could answer just about any question accurately in the world and this is what they ask him: "why walk not thy disciples according to the traditions of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?" That's the mind and heart of these numb nuts.

They could have said where is the Messiah? Where is it written about this? What does this verse say? How do you interpret this, master? No. They want to know why don't you follow our traditions? Look at them guys hands; they've got grease on them. And he's eating a taco. They had grease on their hearts. Grease comes out, okay. This stuff in the heart doesn't.

He answered and said unto them, you ain't nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. Isaiah even talked about you guys. "It's written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do you worship teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." That's what they were doing and that's what they did.

They were worshiping. They looked good. They said all the right words; but what kind of worship was it? Vain worship; because they said they're going to replace the Word of God by the commandments of men. You know where those commandments of men were written? Many of them in the Talmud. Because we're going to explain what this means. So we're going to put it to it.

They knew what Jesus was saying full well. Do you know what they felt? They felt that their tradition was more valuable and more sacred than the Word of God; than the written Word of God.

You can go to just about any denomination today and they practice the same thing. Because you'll hear very little of the Word of God or Bible reading in denominations. But you will hear a whole lot about man's traditions. Man genuflecting, man crossing himself, man kneeling, man confessing; man following the rules and regulations of the church. But very very little of the word of God.

Full well do they reject the commandment of God that they can keep their own traditions. That, my friends, is a good description of of religion.

So what did we see in this session? We saw that the first truth given to the apostles on the day of the Ascension was "he is coming back". The great hope of the return of Jesus Christ was given to them so that they could move forward in the coming days of their ministry. We saw that Zachariah 14 identifies the exact geographical location were Jesus Christ will return, then fight the battle of Armageddon. He'll land on the Mount of Olives and he will set up his kingdom there.

We saw that Bethany was a village at the Mount of Olives; about 2 miles from Jerusalem - on or near the normal road to Jericho. Okay; now the Sabbath Day's journey was less than that. according to the Pharisees, okay? It was 4/5 or almost a mile. Now, 4/5 of a mile was about 3000 feet give or take. But Bethany was about 2 miles. So that meant he traveled farther than what they say. Okay? Now watch it.

We saw the many memorable events took place in Bethany. We saw that he was anointed with ointment before his death. The raising of Lazarus happened in Bethany. We saw that he often lodged there. The house of Martha and Mary was in Bethany. The home and of Simon the leper was in Bethany. And we saw that he ascended in Bethany, just to mention a few.

Acts 1:12 said that they returned unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet in Bethany, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. A sabbath day's journey, although it only appears once in the Bible: here in Acts chapter 1. It was a term known amongst the people in the lands and times of the Bible. We saw that according to ancient rabbinical writings, a sabbath day's journey was approximately 3000 to 4000 feet, or maybe 4/5 of a mile.

Rabbis and religious leaders of Christ's day set that as the limit that a person could travel from his home on the Sabbath, but just like everything else that they touched from God's Word, they made a Sabbath day's journey into a yoke of bondage instead of a blessing that was meant to be. Jesus said unto them, "Full well do you reject the commandments of God, that you may keep your own traditions."

A Sabbath day's journey was what the rabbis and religious leaders of Christ's day set as the limit a person could travel from his home on the sabbath.

Now let me read you again from a book, "But they perverted even a Sabbath day's journey. Supposing a number of small private houses to open into a common court. Okay, so you have a bunch houses here; and here is a common court. Now it would have been unlawful on the Sabbath to carry anything from one of these houses into the other. That's what they said. that but this difficulty was easily removed.

If all the families deposited before the sabbath some food in the common court which established what they called a connection. So you got all these houses and you got this picnic table where Yogi's at. And the night before the sabbath, you come and you put two meals there. They put two meals there. They put two meals there. Now they've got a connection. This is how they get around this stuff.

This connection is established between the various houses; because this house, this house and this house put food here. Now, the logical outcome is that this house and this house and this house and all these houses that put food here, they are all connected. And these guys thought this stuff up. This established a connection between the various houses which makes them one dwelling.

Hey, come on now: It's in the Talmud and it makes them one dwelling. This was called the "arough of courts". They even gave it a name. An ordinary sabbath days journey extended 2000 cubits beyond one's dwelling. But if the boundary of that journey; at the boundary of that journey a man deposited Friday food for two meals. He could thereby constitute it his dwelling and hence, he might go another 2000 cubits. So if a guy had a house here, he could only go 2000 cubits. So if he went 2000 cubits the night before and put more food here, it was an extension of his house. He could go there and then you go another 2000 feet. That's not stupid, it's brilliant It's like our government. So in order to extend his dwelling by 2000 feet, he deposited food and this constituted a dwelling. Hence he might go another 2000 feet.

Now let's talk about narrow streets or blind alleys. Narrow streets or blind alleys were connected into a private dwelling. So you had the streets here and you had a house here, house here, house there. Now in order to connect into the street or the alley they would lay a beam over the entrance. or extending a wire or a rope along such.

Now in order to connect into the street or the alley they would lay a beam over the entrance. or extending a wire or a rope along such a street and alley. This by legal fiction made them a private dwelling. So if you took… your house was here, and it was the road here and you took a piece of Weed Wacker line, I guess, and you put in here. And you went that -a - way; it was an extension of your house. Now you can travel legally, according to the Pharisees, down that road.

These guys are brilliant. You see, they corrupted it. They made it a yoke of bondage, and then when they figured out it wasn't working, they started to finagle and connive and said, "How are we going to get out of this? How we going to extend it? How are we going to do whatever?" That's written. You can read about this kind of stuff.

So you see a sabbath day's journey was simply the amount of distance that normally a person would travel during the sabbath. To go further would break with custom and culture and only was done in very rare occasions. So when you read it was a sabbath day's journey in Acts from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem. It just meant that it was a normal thing to do. It was a normal thing to do, but the Pharisees took that, and like everything else that else they take, they converted it. They twisted it. They perverted it. And they made it fit what they wanted to fit so they can rule it over people and make it a yoke of bondage.

The sabbath day's journey was approximately 2000 cubits which is about 4/5 of a mile. Bethany was at least twice that distance from Jerusalem. From this is clear that the expression "sabbath day's journey" was just that. It was just an expression of the times. It was not used as a proper measurement. In all likelihood, it simply expressed the distance that one would normally travel from his lodging on the sabbath. And that's what a sabbath day's journey is in Acts 1:12. And we'll continue with Pentecost part seven next week.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for all the jewels and diamonds you have hidden in your word that we can just ferret out very easy, very simple. The simplicity of researching your Word, and making it logical. And that man was not made for the sabbath, but the sabbath was made for man. And that it could be a blessing too. We thank you for this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

ÿ