The people and leaders are accused of constantly scheming to
do injustice and then are able to do as they have planned. There is no justice in the land because it
has been perverted in the seeking of more wealth, more stuff. What they have gained through their
wickedness will be taken from them and given to an apostate, to other nations,
who will come and destroy and take for themselves. Worse yet, the preachers and teachers of
Israel are no help, they do not preach truth, their message is, "Party
on!" This passage ends with some
hope, however, the Lord will gather a remnant and they will enter the breach
with the Lord at their head. Who will be
numbered among that remnant?
John, in prison, send messengers to Jesus and they ask if He
is the One, the Messiah. It is
interesting that more recent commentaries on this passage say that John is
doubting because Jesus has not fulfilled John's prophetic word about Him, that
He will bring judgment. These
commentators see John as having a crisis of faith due to his own situation and
in Jesus' reply he quotes a messianic passage from Isaiah but leaves out
setting the captives free, John will not receive a direct answer to the question
and will have to choose for himself. Older
commentaries say that John never wavered, but sent his disciples so that they might
see Jesus and know for themselves that they should follow Him. It is hard to tell which this is but I tend
to lean towards John having doubts because his word was somewhat off concerning
judgment in the short term mission of Jesus.
Jesus speaks highly of John and he is great but his message is not
completely right, there is a great glory in the cross that John has not seen
that those in the kingdom of God now know.
We have a better message, but we, most of us, are not better messengers.
Surely the tribune was happy to hear of the plot against
Paul's life so that he could pass the buck to someone else concerning rendering
judgment in this matter. In the same
night he learned of the plot he called for 200 soldiers, five times as many as
were plotting to kill Paul, to take him away that very night to Caesarea, to
the governor Felix. The tribune wrote a
short summary of all that had taken place and forwarded it to the governor
along with Paul. Felix receives the
prisoner and the communiqué and determines to wait until the accusers come to
bring the case. Good luck with that
one. Justice here should be simple, Paul
has done nothing wrong, but we have heard that before in the trial of
Jesus.
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