May He Increase

Caiaphas the High Priest: a prophet?

Posted By Joe on March 12, 2010

Even the casual Bible reader somehow has heard of Caiaphas. The name conjures up the image of the angry high priest pointing his finger at Jesus and accusing Him of blasphemy.

But there is something about Caiaphas that you may not be aware of. In fact, Caiaphas himself probably never realized this one thing about himself. Caiaphas was a prophet if only for a brief moment!

Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

The other story you may be aware of is when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus and when word comes that Lazarus was dying, Jesus goes to Bethany to see his friend.

When Jesus gets there, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus asks the people to move the stone to his burial plot and He raises Lazarus back to life.

You can imagine what Jesus' enemies thought. We pick up the story in John.

Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs." --John 11:45-47.

It amazes me to see two completely different groups here: those that witnessed the miracle and believed and the others that witnessed and ran to tell Jesus' enemies.

The next verse always got to me:

"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him." --John 11:48.

Every time I used to read this I would ask the question--and what I wrote down in the margin of my Bible: "Then why don't you!" It blows my mind that these guys would seek a way to keep people from believing in their Messiah!

"And the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." --John 11:48.

Ah! That's why! Somehow they forgot who the God of Israel was. Somehow they forgot the history of how Israel became a nation and the God of the universe brought them out of Egypt and through the Babylonian exile and every other wondrous work that God has done through Israel. I mean, God destroyed the Egyptian army and they are worried about the Romans?

Caiaphas the prophet

Then we get introduced to Caiaphas in the next series of verses.

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." --John 11:49-50.

We've seen this line portrayed in movies before. But when you read it as part of this whole passage it really is amazing that he could not have realized that he was being prophetic when he made the statement.

Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. --John 11:51-52.

Caiaphas, in a human capacity, could not have known he was being prophetic. In fact, the last verse speaks of you and I at this moment! The "children of God who are scattered abroad" are the Gentiles: that's you and I!

Your Position

And so what side of this are you on? Are you on the side of seeing the great lengths God has gone to bring you to Himself? Or are you running away from Him and to His enemies? I pray, friend, that it's the former.

May He Increase!

Category: John, Prophecy | No Comments »
Tags: caiaphas, lazarus, Prophecy, prophet, salvation

The Ark and the Cross

Posted By Joe on March 10, 2010

God has been revealing so many awesome things to me from His Word in the past few weeks!

Just like "Of Cords and Ropes," the story of Rahab and the spies, "What's in a Name?" the study of the genealogy of Noah, and the most recent gem "The Mourning of an Only Son," I want to share with you another wonderful passage out of Genesis that ties God's plan of redemption together.

The Construction of the Ark

God commands Noah:

"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch." --Genesis 6:14.

The King James Version states this passage:

"Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." --Genesis 6:14 (KJV).

This translation works a little better to get at the original Hebrew.

The phrase "and shalt pitch" is the Hebrew word "kaphar." The phrase "with pitch" which is at the end of the passage is the Hebrew word "kopher."

"Kaphar" means: "to cover, purge, make atonement, make reconciliation" or "to make atonement for."
"Kopher" means: "price of a life, ransom."

In other words, the Holy Spirit is making a huge pun with this passage. The eight people in the ark are protected from God's judgement by atonement! How is the Christian protected from God's judgment? By the atonement of Christ on the cross!

Dates and Calendars

Later in Genesis, we read of how the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.

In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. --Genesis 8:4.

Straightforward enough, right? Although we may not really get what the date is compared to our modern calendar. But that's okay. For our purposes, the calendar in use by the Jewish people was their civil calendar. This would all change in Egypt.

Let's fast-forward to the book of Exodus. God has already sent nine plagues upon Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. The tenth and final plague--the death of the first-born--has just been announced by God. Then God speaks to Moses and Aaron and makes a huge change:

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, "This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you." --Exodus 12:1-2.

This month is called Nisan. Nisan occurs during our modern-day calendar months of March and April. It's the first month of the Jewish new year according to the new sacred calendar, but the seventh month on the civil calendar.

A few verses later, God institutes the Passover. He explains that the people are to take an unblemished lamb for a sacrifice.

"'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.'" --Exodus 12:6.

Do you see anything remarkable yet?

Jesus was crucified on Passover, the 14th of Nisan. What happened three days later? He rose from the dead on the 17th of Nisan.

What also happened on the seventeenth of this particular month? The ark came to rest on Ararat.

There is no way you can convince me that this was all accidental. There is no way you will ever convince me that men wrote the Bible and put all this together. Impossible! This is nothing but concrete evidence of the supernatural origin of the Bible!

It's my hope that these awe-inspiring gems draw you deeper into God's Word which lead into a greater understanding of God's plan for your life and those around you!

May He Increase!

Category: Exodus, Genesis, Prophecy | No Comments »
Tags: ararat, ark, atonement, cross, egypt, lamb, nisan, noah, passover, pitch, Prophecy

The Mourning for an Only Son

Posted By Joe on March 8, 2010

We've covered a few "Biblical gems" recently like the genealogy of Noah and the story of Rahab and the spies.

I ran across another one today that I've glossed over in the past while reading the book of Amos. It amazes me how many of these wonderful gems are tucked into the Word of God.

"It will come about in that day," declares the Lord God, "That I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in broad daylight." --Amos 8:9.

On the one hand, you might read this thinking that it's related to end-time prophecy and certainly there are those implications. But when else did the sun go down at noon?

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. --Matthew 27:45.

We miss this because we don't tell time like this anymore. The "sixth hour" is noon by our modern reckoning. More on this verse in a moment. First, back to Amos.

"Then I shall turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth on everyone's loins and baldness on every head." --Amos 8:10.

Obviously, the thought here is grieving. But look at what the rest of Amos 8:10 says:

"And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, and the end of it will be like a bitter day." --Amos 8:10.

What was the rest of the passage from Matthew 27? A few verses after Matthew 27:45 we read:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. --Matthew 27:50.

It was the day of the cross. It was the day that God grieved over His only Son. It was the day that the perfect, sinless Lamb of God was made sin for all the world so that you and I won't have to spend all eternity separated from Him! It was the day that our mourning could be turned to joy that we don't have to die in our sins!

May He Increase!

Category: Amos, Matthew, Prophecy | No Comments »
Tags: Amos, crucifixion, Matthew, mourning, Prophecy, salvation, sin

Eden’s Dust

Posted By Joe on March 5, 2010

My family and I make our church home at Knott Avenue Christian Church in Anaheim, CA (on Twitter @KACCchurch).

Recently, I joined the media team helping the church with their social networking including KACC's Facebook page. The media folks roll up to Mike Carman, pastor of Cross-Cultural Ministries. I've really grown to love and respect this man of God. He has such a love for the lost and hurting and showing them the way to Jesus.

Coming up in a week or so is KACC's Beyond...9 Days in March. It's our emphasis on the many missions KACC supports all over the world. In Mike's words:

I'm amped up, excited and can hardly wait. Next month (March 13-21) is our time of missions emphasis at Knott Avenue Church. We call it, Beyond...9 Days in March, and we use it to encourage those we support locally and globally, as well as to educate and challenge our people about missions on a worldwide scale. And what they can do to help get the job done.

You can read the rest of the post at Mike's blog: Eden's Dust. Please visit and say hello.

Watch KACC Services Live!

You can also watch a live stream of KACC's Saturday night service at 5:00 PM PST via USTREAM. Right now, Pastor Shane Womack is doing a study through the book of Daniel.

Category: Announcements | No Comments »
Tags: facebook, kacc, mike carman, missions, shane womack, twitter

Philippians 4:6

Posted By Joe on March 3, 2010

I'm sure most of you know what Philippians 4:6 says.

In case you don't, it says:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. --Philippians 4:6.

I like the translation of this verse that I heard recently:

"Worry about nothing, pray about everything, and give thanks for anything."

I like that, a lot. The only problem is, a lot of times, it's a lot harder than we think. I've had to remind myself lately that worrying is a sin. Did you realize that?

How many times did Jesus command us "do not worry?"