A Certain Man

And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.-Matthew 21:23-32***During the 40th year after Moses and his older brother Aaron led their fellow Israelites, and those with them, away from Egyptian slavery, across the divinely parted Red Sea, and into the desert wilderness of Shur, Aaron died and was buried upon Mount Hor, and Moses went upon Mount Nebo. The Lord God showed Moses Canaan, the Promised Land, and Moses died and was divinely buried. Before Joshua, Moses' successor, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), and to Abraham's son Isaac, and to Isaac's youngest fraternal twin son Jacob (Israel), and to their descendants, he sent 2 Israelite men to search the land. Rahab, a harlot in Jericho, hid the 2 Israelite spies and kept them from being taking captive. After Rahab lied about the presence of the spies, she went up to her roof and spoke to the spies and told them that the Lord God, their God, is God in heaven and on earth. Over 300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Saul, from the tribe of Jacob's 12th and last son Benjamin, became the 1st king to reign over the Israelites. David, from the tribe of Jacob's 4th born son Judah, was the 2nd king to reign over all of the Israelites. Solomon, the 2nd child born to David and Bathsheba, was the 3rd king to reign. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah was the 4th king to reign over all of the Israelites. After Rehoboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south, Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation, Samaria was the final royal city and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. Jehoram (Joram), the son born to King Ahab and Jezebel, was the 9th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel. Elisha was an Israelite and a prophet of the Lord God. Naaman was a Syrian (Aramean), and commander of his king's army, and afflicted with leprosy. Most likely during Joram's reign, the king of Syria (Aram) sent Naaman to the king of the northern nation of Israel to be healed. After Naamah listened to his servants and immersed himself 7 times in the Jordan River as instructed by Elisha, Naaman's flesh was restored and Naaman was clean. Naaman went to Elisha and proclaimed the Lord God to be the only God, and Naaman asked to be forgiven by the Lord God for upcoming idol worshiping acts of bowing in a designated place of idolatry. Over 800 years after Jehu became the 10th king to reign over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel, and Rehoboam's great-grandson Jehoshaphat became the 4th king to rule Judah, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. Approximately 30 years after Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by Mary's relative John the Baptist, from the tribe of Jacob's 3rd born son Levi, the birth tribe of Aaron and Moses. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelites. In Nazareth in Galilee, Jesus spoke of Naaman. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal lessons about the faith and actions of Rahab. In Jerusalem, in the temple of the Lord, sometime after John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded, Jesus used a parable to teach the chief priests and elders among the Israelites about repenting, and the kingdom of God, and belief, and actions.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers 20:1-29, 27:1-12, Deuteronomy 31:1-30, 32:44-52, 34:1-12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges 1:1-2:23, 1 Samuel 1:1-3:21, 8:1-31:13, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles 1:1-34, 2:1-17, 3:1-24, 7:20-29, 8:1-40, 9:35-29:30,  2 Chronicles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26

Reference Information:

harlot = pornai/porne/pornos = prostitute

publican = telonai/telones = tax collector

repent = metameletheis/metamelomai = change one's mind, regret, remorse

Reference Scriptures:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.-Matthew 3:1-2...Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him do in Jordan, confessing their sins.-Matthew 3:5-6

John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin.-Mark 1:4...And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.-Mark 1:7-8

And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:-Luke 3:15-16

Click the link below to read more posts in this category:

https://biblecategorizer.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-certain-man.html