In Defense Of Christ Jesus Yahshuah
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” ( 1 John 2:1, King James Version [KJV]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Christ Jesus Yahshuah ,
My brothers and sisters, I write to you because of the defense of Christ Jesus Yahshuah, surely strong homicidal maniacs were in the forefront of insisting that he get punished twice for the same crime even though we know the will of God perfected in truth revealed Christ Jesus Yahshuah died for our sins [Matthew 1:20-21, KJV “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David , fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”]When you reflect that the key players in the decision to ultimately kill Jesus by hanging after the beating, for all eyes to see, was a timely eclipse into the true nature of man. For who could say more than the two key players, I have killed a lot of men. According to Mark:
“And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together. And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. But neither so did their witness agree together. And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.” [14:55-64, KJV].
Hence, we ask you have you heard of God’s servant of whom he is well-pleased, so spoken by God himself in the presence of early leaders and some of those who walked with Christ Jesus Yahshuah [Matthew 17: 1-13, KJV, “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”; Matthew 3:7, KJV “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”; Matthew 3: 16-17, KJV “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”].
Now, the chief priest, Caiaphas, one of the key players, decided before the trial that Jesus must die. We find this truth in John 11: 49-53, KJV:
“And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, or the people, and not that the whole nation should perish. and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.
Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.”
Most importantly, do we know that Caiaphas decision to kill Jesus had less to do with the turbulent time than possibly that he was a killer, himself —- a homicidal maniac that needed to kill [A 'homicidal maniac' is someone meantally unstable who kills people.]. Such a time of turbulence was just the setting of desire for Caiaphas to act out the need he had in him, to kill.[John 18:14, KJV “Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.].
The fact that Caiaphas so decided to plot to kill Jesus out in the open so much so Jesus and his disciples could not openly move about to minister to the people, is cause to question how great the desire to kill Jesus was and how many others received such death decisions before Jesus. We know Jesus taught in the synagogues, preached and taught in the streets in his public ministry, fed the multitudes, healed the blind, lame, deaf, mentally ill, and possessed people from their torments, even raised the dead.
More so, we say in long speech that there was great competition in leadership to takeout Christ Jesus Yahshuah, as King of the Jews, since his birth. We find a powerful family of priests, in the family of Annas —- in which there was an ambitious father, five sons and a son-in-law, all rising in leadership at the same time of Jesus but obviously willing to kill to keep leadership over the Jews, of the Levite tribe [en.m.wikipedia.org, “The terms of Annas, Caiaphas, and the five brothers are:
* Ananus the son of Seth (6–15)
* Eleazar the son of Ananus (16–17)
* Caiaphas, properly called Joseph son of Caiaphas (18–36), who had married the daughter of Annas (John 18:13)
* Jonathan the son of Ananus (36–37 and 44)
* Theophilus Ben Ananus (37 - 41)
* Matthias ben Ananus (43)
* Ananus Ben Ananus (63)]
Yet, when Jesus met Moses and Elijah on the mountain in a vision with Peter, James, and John, in the presence of God the gospel does not speak of any animosity between the leaders as witnessed in the gospel of Matthew. Yet, Moses’ tribe in leadership at the time of Christ Jesus Yahshuah rise in public ministry is a harsh and cruel acceptance of Yahshuah so much so they plotted to kill him. And, they sought to take head from Jesus and treated God’s Son as a criminal to the Word of God —- Jesus’ own Word, for Jesus is the Word of God. [jewishroots.net “A man who served as a priest did so because he was born into the right family, (Descendant of Aaron, tribe of Levi) not necessarily because he lived a right life. A priest served from the age of 25, was officially a priest with all duties at age 30 and served until the age of 50, after which his ministry was over (Num. 8:24-25).
Although all priests were commanded to be levite's not all Levite's were priests.
The Book of Maccabees also mentions corruption in the office of High Priests. The priest that were chosen were usually from wealthy families. This is because sometimes there was bidding for the position and the highest bidder would win the position of high priest. It is believed that the High Priests in the era of Jesus were all Sadducees (as oppose to Pharisees). Sadducees did not recognize the Prophets as being the authoritive work from God even though the Pharisees did. Therefore they did not believe in things like the timing of the coming of the Messiah found in Daniel 9:24-27 or the Suffering Servant found in Isaiah 53 or even a bodily resurrection to come later. The High Priest was also the president of the San Hedrin, the same court that refused to recognize Jesus as Israel's Messiah. Interestingly, one of the signs that Israel was to be forgiven, when represented by her High Priest on the Day of Atonement was that they would tie a scarlet thread where it could be observed, at the start of the holiday and by the end of the day the scarlet thread would change in color from scarlet to white, showing all Israel her sins had been forgiven. For forty years before the destruction of the temple the thread of scarlet never turned white but it remained red. Talmud- Mas. Rosh HaShana 31b”].
The corruption of the high priesthood continued since Abraham to the time during the birth of Christ Jesus Yahshuah with even competition over prophecy, as Caiaphas prophesied a prophecy already told but he obviously ignored even the angel of the Lord at the birth of Christ Jesus Yahshuah [Matthew 2:4, KJV “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born”; Matthew 2:2-3, KJV “Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”].
Yet, the angel of the Lord, named Gabriel visited Mary in her sixth month of pregnancy making the prophecy truth, to all, for the light of truth was here, on Earth [Luke 1:26-38, KJV “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. [Luke 1:5-7, KJV “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”]. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”].
More importantly, the high priests waited and watched until they could get Jesus anyway they could to crucify him and take head of the Jews away from him yet when they did crucify him, his crown of thorns read: King of the Jews. At age 12, Jesus spoke to the priests in Jerusalem:
“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2:41-52, KJV).
The holy men [Luke 2:21-23, KJV, “...And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)], but holy men with evil intent with a long succession of bribery and treachery, who served as high priests [jewishroots.net, “High Priest Corruption In The Days Of Jesus: Annas was not the current high priest, having been disposed by the Romans in favor of his son-in-law Caiaphas. He still bore the title of high priest, just as ex-presidents of the United States are still called president. Caiaphas was in office until 36 A.D. He was a Sadducee. (Sadducees believed only in the first five books of Moses, since they did not recognize the prophets they did not believe in a resurrection (Note concerning Book of Acts Chapter 4 Verse The High Priest ruled over the temple. He was appointed by Herod for the duration he desired, and often won his office through treachery or bribery. Beginning with the Maccabean revolt and up until the time of Herod-the high priest was the leading religious and political figure in Jerusalem. After Herod's death and the removal of Archelaus, the appointing of the high priest passed to the Roman governors of Jerusalem. For 44 years following the reign of Herod, the Romans usurped the right of appointing the High Priest. The right reverted to King Agrippa the second during the last 20 years of the temples existence. In the final generation of high priests prior to 70 A.D. (Temple's destruction), the Roman Governors once again allowed Agrippa 2nd to choose the high priest.”].
In closing Annas still conducted high priest business usurped the power of his son-in-law, questioned Jesus then sent him on to Caiaphas, the high priest - his son-in-law. This sort of pass the buck style of leadership in decision making boggled the minds of those hoping to save Jesus when Jesus saved us. The sacrificial lamb is not a cliche saying for without cause they persecuted our lord and savior.
[John 18:19-24, KJV:
“The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.”].
Therefore we ask, Were you there when they crucified our lord? There is hate and there is hate and there is public responsibility to do something about injustice. Lord have mercy [Matthew 5:7 KJV “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”]. We find horrific hate here in leadership within the high priesthood enough to damage the hearts and minds of mankind for generations and centuries for the harmful leadership plotted to kill Jesus which is still impacting society today, as a lesson learned, a best practice, and a delivery of justice. I see how many folks call folks Jesus when they see clearly this sort of injustice playing out in the lives of the innocents in modern times.
Injustice is a terrible lambasting on the world to think of the trial of Jesus so it will not ever happen again. We feel this need to honor truth yet there are many who like Jesus suffer injustice, purposeful injustice at the hands of evil leadership and the people still weep and moan. Yes, the people of the world still cry out to God over what happened to Jesus and nowadays, to themselves. I pray the need to have a real - life Jesus story, as an example of a sacrifice to the people becomes less of a hunger and thirst for blood, in the practice of faith, in leadership.
When corruption and the practice of hate is stronger in leadership than the love of God and faith, we have a problem that is not best dealt with in plots and schemes to not best serve a citizen in the kingdom of God. We must not just decide to do better for our fellow man but to actually do better than wishful thinking in delivery of justice - truth, for Jesus beared the burden and his blood paid the cost.
[Galatians 3:13-14, KJV, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”]. Moreover, according to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, KJV “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be so he put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.]. How much is it to ask for the truth to prevail? Christ be with you. God is with you. Amen.
