Why would Jesus not let the demons "speak because they knew who he was" (Mark 1:34)?
In Mark 1:34 we read that Jesus "drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was." The parallel account in Luke's Gospel tells us that Jesus "rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ" (Luke 4:41).
Jesus' purpose not to have His identity established by the testimony of demon spirits, but rather by the messianic signs (miracles) that He performed (see Matthew 11:4-6; Luke 7:21-23). These miraculous signs were predicted of the Messiah in the Old Testament (see Isaiah 29:18; 35:4-6).
Why did Jesus say He came "to bring fire on the earth" (Luke 12:49)?
In Luke 12:49 Jesus said, "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" Scholars have interpreted Jesus' words differently, and all agree that it is hard to know precisely what He had in mind here.
Some scholars point out that in Old Testament times fire often symbolized judgment. This has led some to conclude that when Jesus said, "I have come to bring fire on the earth," He was saying He would bring judgment to the earth. This would fit with John 9:39 where Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world."
Other scholars relate the fire to Jesus' work on the cross. The cross was the central focus of all His activities, and all that He did during His three-year ministry pointed toward this momentous event. When Jesus said, "how I wish it were already kindled," perhaps He was expressing His yearning to bring this task to fulfillment.
Why did Jesus say let the dead bury their own dead(Mt. 8:22)?
This phrase refereed to the People, who stick to the out form of the religion. Though they are living, they are spiritually dead inside. So Jesus said to the son of the dead man, ‘follow me. Let the dead bury their own dead.’
It means the spiritually dead people would bury the dead body even if you weren’t there, because they do these out form of religious proceedings without fail. So you needn’t worry about your dead father. They will take care of the corpse and bury it.
Why did Jesus tell his disciples to buy swords(Lk.22:36)?
There was a time when Jesus sent out his disciples among the people (see Matthew 10) and the people looked favorably on them. They needed no moneybag or supply sack. The people helped and supported them. Then verse 36 show that times were different. Jesus knew: the people could no longer help his disciples and give them shelter lest they should be punished for helping them.
So the disciples had no safety heaven except wilderness. Therefore, a sword might have been used back then to protect oneself from a wild animal while walking in the wilderness places. The disciples misunderstood it and cut off a high priest’s ear, when they tired to arrest Jesus. Then Jesus corrected them, saying who draw sword against man will die by it. It states that Jesus warned them not to use sword against man.
Why did Jesus curse the fig tree and miraculously cause it to wither (Matthew 21:19)?
In Matthew 21 we find that Jesus was hungry and saw a fig tree by the side of the road. As He came close to it, He saw that it had no figs on it, so He cursed it and it withered (Matthew 21:19). It may appear that Jesus is just responding in anger to the tree, cursing it in tantrum-like behavior. But this is not the case at all. One must keep in mind the broader backdrop of Jesus' teaching methodology, which often involved parables and word pictures. Scholars agree that Jesus in the present case is performing a living parable -- an acted-out parable -- to teach His disciples an important truth. His cursing of the fig tree was a dramatic "visual aid."
Jesus was illustrating the principle of faith to the disciples. If the disciples had such faith, they too could do such things as withering fig trees and moving mountains (Matthew 17:20). They would need such faith in the hard days to come.
How could Jesus be made sin when He Himself was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21)?
In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we read, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Yet other verses tell us that Jesus was "without sin" (Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 3:18). How do we reconcile such verses?
To begin, let me emphasize that Christ as God is immutable (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6), and cannot change in His divine nature. In Hebrews 1:12 the Father says of Jesus, "You remain the same, and your years will never end."
Regarding Jesus being "made to be sin," Jesus was always without sin ACTUALLY, but He was made to be sin for us JUDICIALLY. That is, by His death on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sins and thereby canceled the debt of sin against us. So, while Jesus never committed a sin PERSONALLY, He was made to be sin for us SUBSTITUTIONALLY.
One must also keep in mind the Old Testament backdrop of the concept of substitution. The sacrificial victim had to be "without defect" (Leviticus 4:3, 23, 32).
A hand would be laid on the unblemished sacrificial animal as a way of symbolizing a transfer of guilt (4:4, 24, 33). Note that the sacrificial animal did not thereby actually BECOME sinful by nature; rather, sin was IMPUTED to the animal and the animal acted as a sacrificial substitute.
In like manner, Christ the Lamb of God was utterly unblemished (1 Peter 1:19), but our sin was imputed to Him and He was our sacrificial substitute on the cross of Calvary. Simply because our sin was imputed to Him does not mean He changed in nature. Christ was not sinful personally; He was made to be sin substitutionally.
Why did Jesus respond to John the Baptist's inquiry about His identity by pointing to His miraculous acts (Luke 7:22)?
In Luke 7:20 we read that John the Baptist, now in prison, sent some messengers to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied to them: "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor" (verse 22).
As a backdrop to understanding this passage, it was the common viewpoint among the Jews of that time that when the Messiah came, He would deliver Israel from Roman domination and set up His glorious kingdom. In fact, there were very high messianic expectations in the first century, and even John himself may have expected the soon emergence of the kingdom that he had been preaching about.
But now something unexpected happened -- John was imprisoned. Instead of the kingdom, which (it was thought) would be characterized by such things as liberty and freedom, John now found himself locked up in jail and was in danger of execution. So -- what was John to make of this development? John may have expected that Jesus would use more coercive powers as the Messiah/deliverer of Israel. John thus decided to send messengers to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" (Luke 7:20).
Jesus' response is extremely significant. Instead of merely giving verbal assurance that He was the Messiah, He replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor" (Luke 7:22). Why did Jesus say this? Because these were the precise miracles that were prophesied to be performed by the Messiah when He came (see Isaiah 29:18-21; 35:5-6; 61:1-2). The miraculous deeds alone were more than enough proof that Jesus was the promised Messiah. The miracles were Jesus' divine credentials -- His divine "ID Card," so to speak.
There is another point that bears mentioning. When Jesus told the messengers to go to John and report His miracles, this would indeed cause John to recognize that Jesus was the fulfillment of these messianic promises. We might also observe, though, that Jesus' choice to avoid coming right out and saying "You can rest assured that I am the Messiah" may be because of the popular misconceptions of the Messiah among the masses -- and perhaps even John himself. Perhaps Jesus' intention in sending the messengers to report about the miracles was to indicate to John, "Yes, I am the Messiah -- the true Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament who will deliver people from bondage to sin -- but not the Messiah of popular misconception, the coercive political deliverer that so many are expecting today."
Why do Christians worship on Sunday when the Old Testament commandment sets apart Saturday as the day of worship?
The commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 states that the seventh day of the week, Saturday, is the day which the Lord selected as the day of rest and worship. However, in the New Testament the Christian church began to worship and rest on the first day of the week, Sunday. Are Christians violating the Sabbath commandment by worshipping on the first day of the week rather than the seventh day? I do not think so.
First, the basis for the command to observe the Sabbath, as stated in Exodus 20:11, is that God rested on the seventh day after six days of work, and that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. The Sabbath day was instituted as a day of rest and worship. The people of God were to follow God's example in His pattern of work and rest. However, as Jesus said in correcting the distorted view of the Pharisees, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). The point Jesus made is that the Sabbath was not instituted to enslave people, but to benefit them. The spirit of Sabbath observance is continued in the New Testament observance of rest and worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).
Second, it must be remembered that, according to Colossians 2:17, the Sabbath was "a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." The Sabbath observance was associated with redemption in Deuteronomy 5:15 where Moses stated, "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." The Sabbath was a shadow of the redemption that would be provided in Christ. It symbolized the rest from our works and an entrance into the rest of God provided by His finished work.
Finally, although the moral principles expressed in the commandments are reaffirmed in the New Testament, the command to set Saturday apart as a day of rest and worship is the only commandment not repeated. There are very good reasons for this. New Testament believers are not under the Old Testament Law (Rom. 6:14; Gal. 3:2425; 2 Cor. 3:7, 11, 13; Heb. 7:12). By His resurrection on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1), His continued appearances on succeeding Sundays (John 20:26), and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Sunday (Acts 2:1), the early church was given the pattern of Sunday worship. This they did regularly (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). Sunday worship was further hallowed by our Lord who appeared to John in that last great vision on "the Lord's day" (Rev. 1:10). It is for these reasons that Christians worship on Sunday, rather than on the Jewish Sabbath.
