You Will See Heaven Opened!

This is the second of the stories in a book I am writing called SIGNS.

Philip and I didn't really have a fight or even a quarrel, but it was certainly a separation of some kind. I suppose he just got tired of my discontent. But I miss seeing him. We both grew up on the south end of the Sea of Galilee. He was from Bethsaida. And I came from a little fishing village near there. We both came to Capurniam to make a living. But things are different here. We were both outsiders to some extent. And we naturally hit it off. Someone who grew up in Jerusalem would probably not see any difference from the south end of the sea to the north. But the differences are real. Here they usually call the sea Tiberius. That was a little hard to get used to. The nearness to Ft. Tiberius is a bigger problem. The whole country is under the thumb of Rome, but this near the fort we are always in danger. Soldiers dominate everything. 

In the South we were surrounded by Syrians. But the two groups pretty much left one another alone. Here we almost have to become Romans. We all speak more Greek more than Hebrew. To operate a stall in the market we have to understand some Latin. In the synagogue I am not sure whether we are Galileans trying to become Greeks or Romans pretending to be Jews. It hardly feels like we are the people of God. Philip of course agrees with all this, but he gets tired of my complaining about everything. And I guess I have been a lot worse lately. What has really been bothering me is wondering where God is. I mean, if we are still chosen by God, why does He seem so far away?

Today, I just had to get alone and pray about it. I could not go to our synagogue. I didn't want a rabbi questioning me about my feelings and warning me not to blaspheme. There is a fig tree near where I live that I go to sometimes when I want to be alone. The figs on it are small and dry. No one wants them. But the leaves are thick this time of year. It not only shades me from the sun but hides me from prying eyes. I crawled under its branches and poured out my grievances to God.

I ended by asking, “Do you care about me God? Do you even see me? Have you forgotten Israel? Are we still your chosen people?” I stayed there in my hiding place for about an hour. Then I crawled back out into the hot sun.

I was stretching myself from squatting under the tree when I saw Philip. I thought about going the other way, but he had seen me. 

“Nathaniel,” he called, “I have the answer to everything that has been bothering us. We have found the one Moses and the prophets wrote about! Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth.” I had never been impressed with people in the mountain villages above Capurniam.

I said, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip simply told me to come and meet him myself. So I went along with him. We came down to the sea and saw a group of men sitting on rocks near the shore. I recognized several of them. Some of the men were from around Bethsaida. Jesus, the man Philip was bringing me to meet was holding the attention of the others. He looked up as we approached.

He looked right at me and said. “Look everyone. Here is an Israelite who is honest in the depths of his soul.”

I asked him, “How do you know me at all?”

Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, Nathaniel, I saw you under the fig tree.” I fell to my knees before him. 

When I was able to speak I said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!”

"Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?” Jesus said. “You will see greater things than this. I am telling you the truth. You will see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man.”

“I don't know what we will yet see, but only the Son of God could see my heart and hear my private prayers.”

This story is based on Nathaniel's encounter with Jesus recorded in John 1:43-51

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WE SAW

My oncologist has not been very positive about how much time I have. I know that is in God's hands. Still, I had made peace that EARS TO HEAR might be my final book. But I have a new idea for a book. I am calling it, SIGNS. It will be a collection of short stories on events surrounding the miracles of Jesus recorded in The Gospel of John. I want to join the apostle and reflect the Holy Spirit in exploring why people believe in Jesus. And I intend to post condensations of these stories as I write them in my Writing Prayerfully blog. So, here is the first story.

WE SAW!

“John started preaching to a handful of us, mostly laborers, farm hands and fishermen. He called us to repent because the kingdom of God was near. He preached against everything we were guilty of. And he baptized everyone who came in repentance. Before long, everyone was coming to him. In his thundering sermons he called us unrepentant sinners and worse. The harder he preached the more people came.

“Yesterday we who are among his closest disciples were standing around him because a delegation from the priests and Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to examine him.

“‘Who are you?’ they demanded. ‘Who do you claim to be?’ They were probably afraid he was the Messiah. And even though they, along with every rabbi in the country, had taught for hundreds of years that the Messiah had to come, they weren’t sure they were ready for him. All the people were longing for deliverance, but their leaders were going to fight it, no matter what.

“John answered them boldly. ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 

“Then they ask him, ‘Are you Elijah?’

“He answered, ‘No.’

“‘Are you the prophet Moses wrote about?’

“‘I am not,’ he said.

“Finally, they asked, ‘Who are you? What do you say about yourself? We have to give an answer to those who sent us.’

“Loud enough for everyone to hear, John said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord! The prophet Isaiah wrote these words about me.’’

“So, they asked, ‘Why are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?’

“John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire!’ 

“We had not seen Jesus there that day, but he must have been in the crowd.

“By the next day the atmosphere around John seemed to relax a little. And John saw Jesus walking in the distance.

“He pointed him out and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. I didn't know him then, but I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel.”

“A little later John said, ‘Even though I did not know who he was at the time, the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And you who were there remember the day I baptized Jesus.”

“We could never forget that day. Jesus himself asked John to baptize him. And as Jesus came up out of the water, something that looked like a dove descended from heaven and stayed there. That was unusual enough. None of the rest of us understood what was happening until a voice came from above saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

“Frankly, I was not surprised when John concluded, ‘I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.’”

The roots of this story come from John 1:19-34 in the Bible.

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“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

John 4:48                                      

                              

Our visit to Sychar was as amazing us as it was to the Samaritans. We had always been taught that they were unclean. And at least James and I had reason to fear them. I won't go into that now. But Jesus marched us into Samaria as bold as you please. We stopped at the ancient well of Jacob. Jesus rested by the well and sent the rest of us to the nearby town of Sychar to buy food. I wondered if it was safe to leave Jesus alone, but no one would come to the well in the hottest part of the day. And, to be honest, we felt that it would be safer if we went with a larger group into town.

When we returned Jesus was talking with a woman. But none of us dared ask him what he needed or why he was talking to a Samaritan woman. Whatever they were talking about seemed to upset her. She left her water jar and ran off toward town. 

When she was gone, we started urging Jesus to eat, but he refused. We were wondering how he could have found anything to eat. He said his food was to do his father's will.

We divided what we had purchased among ourselves and sat down to eat. As we were finishing, Jesus said, "Don't you have a saying, 'Four more months, and then the harvest?' Lift up your eyes and see. The fields are white for harvest." We automatically looked up and saw hundreds of people were coming from the town. Their robes were the color of a ripe wheat field. 

Evidently on the word of the woman he had been talking to, many of them believed Jesus was the Christ. They asked him to stay for a while. We stayed there two more days, and in that short time, hundreds of Samaritans came to believe that Jesus was the Savior of the world.

As we went on from there Jesus reminded us of something He had said earlier. "A prophet has no honor in his own country." But as we came back into Galilee, the people received him after all. They had been to the Passover in Jerusalem and had seen the amazing signs that he did there. We went first to Cana where he had turned the water into wine at the wedding feast.

One morning when he rose early to go out and pray, we roused ourselves and went out with him. It was getting light in the east when he rose from prayer and began to talk to us.

"Why do you think I have been received here in Galilee where they tried to stone me earlier?" We talked about it among ourselves. It seemed obvious to us that it was because they had seen him perform signs and wonders at the Passover. 

Then he asked us, "Why then did the Samaritans put their faith in me? Had they been to Jerusalem as well?" Several of us chuckled at this. There is no way Samaritans had been to the Passover. He continued, "There is danger for people to only believe because they see miracles." Simon argued a little with this. 

"Master I believed because I saw you fill our nets with an impossibly large catch of fish."

Jesus said, "Was that your only reason, Simon? Had your heart not already been convicted by some of my teaching?" Simon ducked his head. "I knew that you would believe, Simon, when you saw the miracle. But there is a danger of people who see signs and wonders believing against their will. They are not repenting. They don't want to follow me. But they know that I have to be the Christ to have done such signs."

My brother James said, "Then why do you perform signs and wonders?"

"My father gives these signs so people will know that I am indeed the Christ. I have given you authority to do some of the same works that I do. And as the gospel spreads to the ends of the earth, he will often do such miracles so people who will come to me will know that I am the Savior of the world. But those who only believe because they see signs, will search hard for some explanation that will not require them to continue to believe in me. Some will only continue to believe if they see a miracle every day."

Just then the sun peaked over the mountains and shown down on us. We could not help but turn and look at the glorious sunrise. 

Jesus said, "Is that not a wonderful sign? Only my father could set the sun in the sky or create the stars you see at night."

Thomas said, "That's not a miracle. It happens every day."

Jesus answered, "And if people saw signs and wonders everyday, they would begin to say, that's not a miracle. It happens all the time."

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THE GATHERING OF OUTCASTS

 

My book of short stories is now available.

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A GATHERING

   A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS, my new book of short stories will soon be released. If you are interested, I would like to send you one of the stories without cost to you. Send me the email address you would like to use, and I will send you the story. 

Sincerely, 

David Young

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A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS

                    David Young    

                                              daveswatch@gmail.com

                                                            613 Terrace St.

                                                             Carson City, NV 89703

                                                                                       775-301-066

 A GATHERING OF OUTCASTS, my new book of short stories will soon be released. If you are interested, I would like to send you one of the stories without cost to you. Send me the email address you would like to use, and I will send you the story. 

Sincerely, 

David Young

daveswatch@gmail.com

METAPHORS FOR CHRISTIAN WRITERS

As writers we deal with words, and most of us love them.

*Every poet looks for…

Words that cry, words that sting

Words that shine, words that ring

Words that fly, words that sing,

Words that say the many splendored thing.

The biblical languages are filled with vivid metaphors to help us understand deep and crucial truths. Three of them come to mind that apply wonderfully to us as Christian Writers. They are Angel, Apostle, and Deacon.

ANGEL

ἄγγελος

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstand”

Revelation 2:1

The word angel means messenger. And while it is certainly applied to heavenly beings like in John 1 where Jesus told Nathaniel he would see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. But it doesn't always refer to heavenly beings. When Jesus quoted Malachi saying "I will send my messenger before you." He used the word angelos, but John the Baptist fulfilled that prophecy. In Revelation 2 and 3 when Jesus addressed the angels of the churches, I suspect He was telling John to take His words to the messengers or preachers in the churches.
As a writer you too are an angel. You have a message from God for the hearts of your readers.

Apostle

ἀπόστολος

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,”

Ephesians 1:1

Apostle is another important metaphor for you. The word Apostle is used for more than the 12 chosen by Jesus at the beginning of His ministry. Of course Paul calls himself an apostle. He also calls Barnabas and Silas apostles. Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus our apostle and high priest. In Romans 16 Paul greeted Andronicus and Junia who were well known among the apostles.

The word means sent out. In John 1:6 the verb form of apostle is used to say, “There was a man sent from God.” You have also been commissioned by God to write. There is an urgency to your mission.

Deacon

διάκονος

“For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 3:13

The word deacon was one of the primary words used for a servant in the Roman world. The church applied the word to those who minister to the needs of others.

In Romans 16:1 Paul wrote the church about a lady named Phoebe.

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.”

Here the word translated, “servant,” is the word deaconos-deacon. Without slipping off into the question as to whether the term was used formally here, let me point out that you are called to address human needs.

*From Worth A Thousand Pictures, from the book, Take Me To The Garden

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