The Bulls of Bashan (transcript)

I’d love to. Thank you. Wow. Well, good morning. Good morning.

Liss. Yeah. Were those not some great singer outers this morning? Great singer outers. Wow.

That is the kind of energy that we need next week when we have friends in our house. For those of you who are planning on joining us for Easter, think of inviting people over to your house. What would it be like if you sent out invitations and personally invited somebody over to your house and then the you said, hey, come over at, you know, 6PM for dinner and they show up at 05:57 and you don’t come to your own house until like fifteen after. You’re off to that, you’re off to like a weird start and then you just kinda sit around and like you’re like, I know that you’re invited over here for dinner but like like what do you wanna cook? You want me to cook like, no.

A good host has been cooking and and has their house clean, all the lights are on, you’re showered, you’ve at least done some dry cleaning and then you’re ready for your the music is on, you’re ready for your friends to come over, you’re waiting at the front door, hey, it’s so great to see you. When we gather next week for Easter, think about you, each and every one of you, take personal responsibility. Let’s let’s do away with the consumer mentality. Well, they better do this song at Easter and they they better not go too long and they better have fried chicken at their you know, whatever like whatever you’re I’ll do better. I mean, we are gonna.

We are gonna. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t worry, we are gonna have fried chicken but let’s banish and be far from us a consumer mentality next week when it comes to Easter. Let’s come ready to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the foundation of the hope that we have as Christians and let’s put on our best hospitality hats and by with you guys being real singer out louders today in in worship, that was that was awesome.

You are well on your way to being incredible hosts for next year. Alright? Okay. So. Year?

Oh, This like this coming. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alright.

So, as we get into today’s conversation, we are in week 10 of a very important series. Psych. We are going to, this Friday, we are going to have a Good Friday service. It’ll be at 6PM, it’s about an hour long. Caleb coming to our tribe fam introduced us to the the tradition of as part of the meal having fried chicken for after the service.

Well, one of the things that Lanisha introduced us to as she came to Tribe was like, we doing a good Friday service? And not that we like have anything against it but we were like, no. And, she’s like, we need a Good Friday service. So, last year was the first year. Second year.

Second year. Look at the team effort. Really can’t do this without every single one of you. So, for two years since Lanisha’s been a part of our tribe fam, she’s like, gotta have a good Friday service. We did it two years ago, we’re like, yep, that was just, it was awesome and so, this Friday at 6PM, we gather for only about an hour, it goes fairly quick but it really sets helps us, sets the stage and helps us to calibrate our hearts for the joy of the resurrection on Sunday morning to go through and in some small way, be able to walk in the footsteps of the disciples and really the whole world from the trauma, the emotional and physical trauma that happened on Friday to being held in suspension, being in this weird limbo place Friday night, Saturday, Saturday evening, and then the eruption of wonder and awe on Sunday morning is is spectacular and so come on come with us on the journey, 6PM Good Friday service.

Y’all come on right here at the TMC. Okay? So with that in mind, let’s jump into what we’re gonna talk about today and if you have your notes with you, you can write at the top of your notes the title of the conversation that we’re going to have today. It’s called the Bulls of Bashan. The Bulls of Bashan.

Write that at the top of your notes. Well, that’s why we gonna talk about it today. That’s why we gonna talk about it today. And, if you’re new to Tribe, if you haven’t already picked up on this unique distinctive, At Tribe, we like to have a conversational format when it comes to getting into God’s word. I know that we’re just about to get into God’s word and you’re like, there’s already been a lot of conversation.

Well, I think it was, the worship was just so good. Everybody’s lively this morning but as we get into discussing God’s word together, instead of just a monologue, I really do want this to be a dialogue. So, I wanna hear from you thoughts or questions, comments, connections that you have. Let’s talk about these things because we all get more out of it when we hear your contribution as frequent as sometimes it may be. Today, the title of this morning’s conversation is called the Bulls of Bijan and if you don’t understand, why don’t we open our bibles to Psalms 22 and we’re going to take turns reading all of Psalms 22.

Kat has a mic in the room, the reason why the mic goes around the room is for all of our spring break families that are traveling, whether they are going hither and thither around the country or around the world, we they still get to participate in the service when they hear your lovely voice on the microphone. Read a few verses and then you can pass it off to somebody else. Psalms 22, we’re gonna read the whole chapter. Ready, set. Go.

Go. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh my god, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy enthroned on the praises of Israel.

In you, our ancestors put their trust. They trusted and you delivered them. To you, they cried out and were saved. In you, they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a warn and not a man.

I am a worm and not man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord, they say. Let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him, since he delights in him. Here, Elle. Oops. Sorry. We’re on verse nine.

Right? But you are he who took me out of the womb. You made me trust while on my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon you from birth, from my mother’s womb. You have been my God.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They gape at me with their with their mouths like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart is like wax, it has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a post like a pots Popsicle. Popsicle. Something that’s dry. Know, when you take a when you take a clay pot and you smash it and it’s a bunch of pieces.

Those pieces are shards. Pot shards. Oh, understood. Pot shards. Pot.

Not pop tarts or popsicle pot shards. And my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet. I count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. But you, oh Lord, do not be far from me.

Oh my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me. I will declare your name to my brethren.

In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all you offspring of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, nor has he hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him, he heard.

My praise shall be of you in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him will praise the lord. Let your heart live forever.

All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord’s and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him. Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

A posterity shall serve him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation. They will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has done this. The Lord bless the reading of his word this morning. So this is where we’re gonna be today, Psalms 22.

And my first question to you is what sort of hyperlinks connections are you making in your brain? As you read through this, there is an overarching theme and what does this theme remind you of or do you connect with as you read through Psalms 22? You can just say it. Easter, the cross and you are correct. We need to look really quickly and and consider the words of this Psalm were written by David to the what tune?

The deer of the dawn. Yeah. The deer of the dawn. Only we had that tune today. We can.

The dough of the dawn. The dough of the dawn. That was a real banger back then. So, David wrote this and it’s important for us to grasp what David was seeing seeing before we get into kind of weighed into this chapter. It’s important for us to try to grasp and comprehend the significance of what was being said compared to when it was fulfilled.

So, all of you who have been following Jesus for any length of time, you know about Jesus and the cross. And, whether you’re familiar with Psalms 22 or not, there’s a lot of bells that are ringing in your head that remind you Psalms 22 of Jesus and the cross but we must take a moment to appreciate that there was roughly a thousand year gap between David pinning the words to this song that was coming up out of his heart that I believe was a a it mirrored what he was going through because it’s written in the first person. So David was experiencing some amount of these things but it was really a prophetic foreshadowing to a literal fulfillment of events and the time gap was a thousand years. I don’t want us as Christians to just rush over and be like, oh yeah, Jesus on the cross, Jesus on the cross. Not to belittle Jesus on the cross, but to belittle the connection.

A thousand years of time went by between David writing these down and Jesus fulfilling them. Right. That’s the correct response. Wow. Okay.

With that in mind, we have the proper mindset to wade into the text and what I would like us to do is to, we are not gonna slow roll our way through each and every one of these verses, but let’s look at the beginning of Psalms, Psalm chapter 22 and I would like us to make note of various places that we see are hyperlinked to events of the passion week and of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus that we can see here in Psalms 22. So use your looker eyes and looker at chapter 22 and go slowly through there and let’s just like raise your hand and say what do you see that is a hyperlink to what happened on the cross? Okay. Ian’s hand goes up. Here comes the mic.

My god, my god, why have you forsaken me? Okay. So we only get to verse one. No. Keep the mic.

Keep the mic. So so we only get to verse one. We only get to the first few words. My god, my god, why have you forsaken me or abandoned me? Now, where how does that relate to or connect to Jesus on the cross?

Jesus says that when he feels like God is gone from him. Yes. It’s like, why am I why am I alone here? Yes. Yeah.

Word for word. Now, Ella, I’m gonna get to you in just a moment. Something that you may not you may not realize how Jewish Jesus really is if you only learn about Jesus separate and apart from any type of like like Jewish religious like study or teacher or anything. None of you have sat under, I don’t think, have ever sat under like a rabbi besides rabbi Jesus but but a common technique for rabbis when they would teach the Torah is they would start a verse or a phrase and intentionally not finish it leaving the listener to fill in the blank. Okay.

So So part So so like like Jesus is being very rabbi ish here even on the cross because when he says those words, any good Torah student would know that’s Psalms 22. So, you are exactly right. Jesus says this while he’s hanging suffering on the cross. And, he’s literally and emotionally feeling the abandonment of God because the bible says that his eyes are too holy even to look at sin and and Jesus was busy taking the sin and the weight of the world upon himself. And God had to distance him, distance himself from sinful man causing Jesus to cry out.

Ella, right here. Well, I was gonna add to that too That yes, like when Jesus is referencing Psalm 22 here in God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But then, it’s not just that one verse that he’s referencing. He’s referencing No, the whole he Well, he’s referencing the whole Psalm, which is like, the whole theme of it is like, I feel abandoned, however you have answered me and you have listened to me and you hear me and you’re saving me from the lion’s mouth and you’re saving me from these people who are taking my clothes and my garments off. So, yes, he is referencing the like abandonment that David is feeling, but he’s also referencing the entire psalm Yes.

That he is being saved. This is for a reason like the Lord has not actually abandoned me. Like, my this purpose. This is why I’m here. You’re you’re exactly right.

By quoting the first part of that Psalms, it will bring to mind the entire Psalm. Like, all you have to say is, oh, say can you see? And then everybody’s mind immediately fills in like, oh, that’s the Star Spangled Banner, okay, they they fill it in. So yes, you’re exactly right. Alright.

Let’s continue to look slowly through with our lookers and see who Where’s another literal fulfillment on the cross of this prophetic psalm in chapter 22? Gretchen? 16, they pierced my hands and my feet. Can count on my bones. Look and stare at me.

They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Alright, hold on to that one. We’ll give Gretchen verse 16 but we gotta back up because there’s more before then. So Gretchen gets 16, she can share it at 16 but let’s Where before then? Seven and eight.

There we go. Seven and eight. Go ahead and read it. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip.

They shake the head saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him and let him deliver him. Seeing he delighted in him. I have King James. That’s why I had Ian finish. Yeah.

That is a lot to try to wrap my Seven and eight. Seven and eight. Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads saying, this is the one who relies on the Lord? When they were saying, oh, come on king of the Jews.

Then let the Lord save him. If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him. Okay. So where do we see this play out during the passion week or the crucifixion? Either one of you can answer or somebody knew.

Does this play out on the cross? Yes. Oh. Yes. Yes.

I mean, they mock him and then they they say to him almost word for word, if you really are the son of God, why doesn’t he come and rescue you? King of the Jews with sarcasm. Yes. Like, if you’re so powerful, then just get yourself off that cross. Yeah.

Yes. Okay. So I think we often over we we rush over one, a a keyword that’s a verb that plays out in the scene of the crucifixion. It says, they mock me. The verb to mock.

What does it mean to mock? Fun of, to insult. So here’s what it here’s what we don’t have the recording. We have some of the words recorded in the New Testament but to mock would mean to take some of the words that he said and say them back in an insulting tone. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father.

Can you imagine? The father and I are one. People, including Pharisees, the leading religious leaders of the day, were saying these things to Jesus. Pick up your mat and walk. Why can’t you get off that cross?

Can you imagine being there if you actually had the courage to be at the foot of the cross of Jesus’ crucifixion. Here today, I’d be there. I mean, all the disciples said it too. And they scattered like sheep without a shepherd. But could you imagine if maybe we could like, know, rewind the clock and and you know, be a fly on the wall in that moment.

Today with the love that we have for Jesus in our hearts to hear the pharisees not just insult him but to hear the pharisees mock him. To take his own words and use them against him. Verse seven and eight, everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer. To sneer means like what an idiot.

And they shake their heads. He made all of these boasts and these claims. This is the one the Lord relies on? Let’s see him put his let’s see him put his money where his mouth has been for three years. Let the lord save him.

If the lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him. I maybe you were gonna read this, but I think the one that just is like, oh, is in Luke when he says, while he was in custody, men blindfolded him, struck him, and demanded, prophesy. Who hit you? Like such mockery. Here comes the mic.

Satan did the same thing when Jesus was led by the spirit in the wilderness. And Satan says, if you are the son of God, then throw yourself down. You will be saved. You won’t die. Yeah.

And so you see the the humans actually falling in line with the same thing that Satan was doing. To to mock and to ridicule, to treat lightly the name of Jesus. I don’t care if you’ve been had your butt planted in the pew for thirty years or this is your very first Sunday, it don’t matter. To mock, to sneer, to take lightly the name and person of Jesus is to fall in line with the strategy of the accuser of him since day one. Aaliyah said it, not me.

Don’t get mad at me. I appreciate how you made sure we knew that it was a thousand years apart from David to Jesus and how easy it was for all these pharisees and disciples because they all they know the Torah. They went through it. They were good Jewish men. And how it was a good recall for Jesus to say that to them.

Hopefully, they remembered. Some did. Some probably didn’t. But then how easy it is for us even today to constantly question God’s love for us and Jesus’ love for us. And I was just really getting hit by that because it’s so easy for me to be like, Lord, do you still love me?

And we then like to recall the things he’s done for us within, like, our own lifetime and forget what he did for us two thousand years ago. He had the power to leave the cross. Yes. At four thirty, 100% man, 100% God, to be like, you know what? These people do not deserve it.

He knew us sitting here today that we do not deserve it. Yes. But through his love, he endured. And it just, I’m gonna start crying now, but it just really got me. Yes.

Powerful. Let’s continue slow rolling with our lookers through Psalms 22. Don’t worry, we’re not gonna take all like, we’ll get the bulk of it pretty quick. How many verses do we get until we bump into another prophetic statement written a thousand years before its literal fulfillment of Jesus on the cross. Oh okay, let’s see what we got.

No, you’ve been so good. Oh yeah. In verse 27. Verse 27? Well, are we are we taking one at a time?

We’re not going verse at a time, but there’s some there’s some things that happen. There’s a lot of good stuff in this. Alright. Say verse 27 and then It’s like where he’s saying that the families of the nations will bow down before him. Oh.

And we’re told that again in the New Testament. Every knee shall bow. Yes. And this is really cool. I just wanna tell you.

A thousand years before this was all said. Yes. So that’s that’s Yes. And there will come a day at the second advent of Jesus where the nations will bow down before a Jew ruling and reigning from Jerusalem. But back to chapter 22.

But Gretchen didn’t get seven and eight. No. I got sixteen, seventeen. Yeah. We’re not to 16.

I know. Let me guess. I’m gonna guess. Oh, Gretchen’s gonna take a bonus. Yes.

I’m gonna I’m gonna guess that 12 has something to do with it because it’s the title of the sermon. But I don’t know what it is. I’m just guessing. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

Alright. And I just asked where is Bashan? Alright. We don’t worry. All will be revealed to you.

My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls. Fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in like lions. They open their jaws against me roaring and tearing into their prey. So this one is has tremendous significance for a number of reasons and so we’re going to make note of it in this moment and and we’re gonna continue on. We’re not gonna look past verse 18, just so just so you know.

So it’s not like we’re gonna go through the whole chapter. But between, we’re gonna come back around to verse twelve and thirteen, but let’s look between verses twelve and thirteen through 18 and who can see another like freeze frame that happens on the cross? There we go. Verse 15. Look at verse Avery’s like, yes.

I mean, I saw it and I was gonna say something, but I would 14, Abraham. Oh, you got 14? What do see in 14? Yeah. I’m I’m poured out like water on my bones or out of joint.

Yes. I’m sure that physically happened to Jesus on the cross. Okay. That’s a really really good that’s a really good point. Let’s look at, verse 14.

My life is poured out like water. All your strength is gone. We could probably assume that from Jesus before and on the cross. Okay? All of my bones are out of joint.

There’s nothing in the narrative of the crucifixion in any of the gospels that says that his bones were dislocated but so many of us have seen numerous times Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ and and in that, and you could read some extra biblical accounts of Roman crucifixion that were absolutely horrible and so it’s not out of joint, if you will, to assume that the position that criminals were placed in for Roman crucifixion that they would experience, a dislocation of hips, dislocation of their shoulders and so, yes, very good Avery. My heart is like wax melting within me. You can go and look at YouTube videos of cardiologists looking at the cross and taking the narrative of what happened on the cross and when he was carrying the cross piece of the cross and he fell, did he bruise his heart? Did he get a pericardial tamponade? Did that bruising and the swelling of his heart constrict the blood flow causing a person to feel like like their their their blood feels thick like wax?

You can look at videos to see all of that. But Avery, that’s an excellent point and I just wanna be true and clear to the text. In the gospel accounts, there’s no specific reference. And then Jesus’ shoulder was pulled out of socket. It does not say that, but I believe it is a safe inference and connection that we can make.

Very good observation. Alright. Back to 12. Oh, now we’re jumping backwards. Go back to 12.

We’re gonna. We’re gonna. Because I said it a few moments ago. That’s the whole title. Yes.

Yes. I said we’re gonna come back to to that one. Okay. Alright. Okay.

Lanisha said this in verse 15. My strength is dried up like sun baked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Do we see that with Jesus on the cross? Where and how?

You can just say it. Yes. He says, I’m thirsty. And and they give him a a a stick and a sponge and if you’ve you’ve heard me, maybe you’ve heard me preach on that before, it’s disgusting. They basically give him a toilet brush.

And yeah, and and he tasted and he’s like, verse 15, checks the box. Okay, where, far do we get to go? To 18. To 18, anything else between, we’re at verse 15. I was say 16.

Okay, Gretchen gets 16. Alright, now it’s Gretchen’s turn. We’ve made it. For dogs have surrounded me, the congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet, literal.

Yes. I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots, which also literal. Yes.

Okay, verse 16, they have pierced my hands and feet. Do we see a literal fulfillment of that on the cross? Of course. I can count all of my Avery. Two contributions today, so record.

I’m gonna mark this on Obviously, your understand. Obviously, I understand like the connection to Jesus and the piercing of the hands and the feet. Like, what do we think David was referencing? Yeah. That’s a really good question.

Yeah. Like, is he referencing crucifixion or Oh. Oh. So, crucifixion was not invented or it was not around at the time. What was David going through?

Had he experienced some literal wound scratches? I don’t know. I don’t know. Or like like artistic people do, they they use their imagination and they write from their imagination. I believe that David somehow, some way was literally somehow it may have been an artistic version but David was literally seeing a prophetic dream or vision that caused him to write these words in relation to what he was potentially going through himself.

But that’s a really that’s a really good question. And if you’d like to engage with a a observant Jew, not an ethnic Jew or national Jew because they’d be like, Psalm what? But if you engage with an observant Jew, I think it would be a fun question to ask them completely open ended, don’t try to lead them, you can’t You can’t lead them most to large. Yeah, yeah. But just say like, hey, what are your thoughts on Psalms 22?

And then and then just say, I know I know I know. I’m a Christian. I see Psalms 22 verse sixteen one way but like, how do you see it? I think that’d be a fascinating question to ask. Kinda in that verse, if you look at the NET version, 16 says, yes, wild wild dogs surround me, a gang of evil men crowd around me.

Like a lion, they pin my hands and feet. So like he’s envisioning what they do to lions is what they’re trying to do to him. Yeah. Okay. Woah.

Yeah. That’s good. Portion? N e t. The in New English translation.

Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright. We get to verse 18.

What does verse 18 say? Oh, verse seven, we gotta do verse 17. I can count all my bones. So is that person emaciated or are are they like like starving and really malnutritioned or has the flesh been stripped away exposing the bone? You can go and look at YouTube videos on Roman scourging and the cat of nine tails that was used using bits of of raw metal, sharpened bone, and how a person was whipped, and we’ve all been well, at least every guy has been at least once snapped with a wet towel.

It’s the closest we’ve ever been to being whipped and then maybe you had an abusive experience where it was more than that. But every guy can relate to getting popped with a wet towel. Like, you never forget it. It’ll leave a wilt on you. That’s as close as we can get but a Roman scourging was very different.

A Roman scourging So, Jewish culture, a person could be whipped but according to Jewish culture, a person could not survive more than 40 lashes. That was Jewish culture but Jesus was not punished under Jewish religious law. He was punished under Roman law. Brutal, savage. The bible says in Isaiah that when he was scourged, when he was whipped and when he was beaten that he was unrecognizable not as rabbi Jesus but what does the bible say?

He was unrecognizable as a man, as a person. I don’t know who they beat him so bad not even his mama could recognize him. And when it says all of my bones, I can count all of my bones, I believe that in that Roman scourging it was so brutal and so savage that as the cat of nine tails was laid across his back and yanked across that it ripped the epidermis, exposed the muscle, ripped the muscle and there was even areas of his body where raw bone was exposed. Not cool. Verse 18, they divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.

Do we Are there any hyperlinks to that? Yes. It’s literally fulfilled and recorded in the gospel that the Roman soldiers, why they did that, that’s a sermon for another time, another day. Why would you take the bloody garments of a criminal and gamble for them. Ah, yes, I want it.

Like, hey, who gets this? I’ll get this. No, why do you get it? I’ll take it. No, I want it, I want it.

Alright, let’s rock paper scissors for it. Okay, fine, you won, best two out of three, you win, you get his garment. Why did they do that? That’s a sermon for another time. Perhaps more humiliation, I mean, was certainly hung on the cross naked, not like the Catholic crucifix that you’ve seen where he’s got a little modesty cloth.

That did not happen in real life. So there are other literal fulfillment in Psalms 22. The majority of them happened between verse one and eighteen but what I would like to do now is to circle back around and look at verse 12 and we will put it up on the screen for you. Double click on verse 12. My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls, fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in.

When I read this verse two years ago, I thought, man, that would be a great theme for Easter some year. And then the next thought that bubbled into my barely creative brain was a hyperlink that my brain created between a Rage Against the Machine song called Bulls on Parade and I was like, oh, why don’t I use the the visual imagery of Rage Against the Machine album and connect it to Bulls on Parade in the hopes of reaching a demographic of people in this city that aren’t necessarily necessarily in the pews today. And then I began I mean, it still is. Yeah, for some. So so if we look at yeah, the nineties.

So if we look at this verse, Psalms 22 verse 12, I wanna take just a little bit of time and and look at this. My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls, fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in. Now, I’m gonna ask a couple of questions that’ll walk us through. Why bulls? Like like, why not tanks or rockets or I don’t know, today, what’s more realistic?

I don’t know, lawyers? A team of lawyers have surrounded me all threatening me with papers like, it’d be terrifying. In David’s day in David’s day, it was bulls. What’s what’s larger in the Middle Eastern in that part of the world? What’s larger, more fierce, and more powerful than a bull?

They didn’t have rhinoceroses. They didn’t know about rhinoceros. They didn’t know about elephants. They didn’t know about diesel tanks. The biggest most fearsome thing of that day and age, the most raw power was a bull.

They had lions. They had lions but we see those in here. Okay, no lions are okay. Large bulls represent large, powerful, unstoppable force. There’s no way that you get to win against a bull.

Dance and hop and skip around all you want. If that bull gets a hold of you, you are done. I don’t know about you but sometimes in my life when I’m experiencing stress, I’ll dream of of like one of two things. Either a bear is chasing me and bears can like crawl like in windows and go upstairs and things like that and a a bear is chasing me, I’m like, uh-uh. Or I’m in a rodeo arena and no matter how high I climb up the rails of that rodeo arena, the horns of the bull can still like flick my feet out from under me and oh, it’s it’s it’s just a stress dream that I have, I wake up and I’m like, okay, yeah, it’s a stress dream.

I don’t know. Does anybody else have like stress dreams? Yes, but not about rodeos. Okay, but not about rodeos. This is this is my stress dream.

Okay, so why why bulls? Why did he pick bulls to surround me? They’re large, they’re powerful, they’re unstoppable, but there’s also more. Bulls were worshipped and represented false demonic pagan gods of the Canaanite religion. So a bull was a symbol of a demonically inspired evil malevolent force against a person, against David, and then against Jesus.

So let’s go back to verse 12, we’ll keep it up here on the screen. There is in Canaanite religion, this is about the the time of David, there was a god by the name of El, there was also a god by the name of Baal, and he was worshiped. His physical image was often represented as a bull. The power. Bulls also made baby cows which it’s almost baby cow season.

Well, baby cow season has started. If you live South Of Smith’s like, it’s just like one of my favoritest times of the year. All of two so far, more on the way, but bulls also like like work to create life. And so so if you’re like, why would a a a little g god be represented by a bull? There’s a lot of significance and connection to it.

And so, there is Why bulls? They’re big, they’re strong, they’re powerful, but there’s also a spiritual significance to it. Fierce bulls have surrounded me. The forces of evil, the demonic opposition has encircled and surrounded me. Now, you also asked this question, why Bashan?

I will now attempt to answer that question. Nancy, made a quick cute little map here. It’s not necessarily to scale, but Sea Of Galilee orients us properly to the rest of the map and what’s going on. Everything to the left, that’s Israel, everything to the right is other places. Okay?

So we have the Golan which is should be North of the Sea Of Galilee but on it. But look at Mount Hermon which is more or less like in its proper geographic place, Northern Northern Israel and this area is called the Land Of Bashan. So Bashan was a region in Far Northern Israel at the base of Mount Hermon. Okay, now we can go back to verse 12 and we’re gonna keep that up there because that’s where we’re we’re living. So Mount Hermon or the region of Bashan in David’s day was known as a different area in Jesus’ day.

Remember, it’s been a thousand years. A thousand years go by between David and between Jesus. In Jesus’ day, there was a region in Northern Israel called Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi had a it’s a it’s a there are a lot of caves and grottoes in Caesarea Philippi, you can go there and see it today. And and there was a temple at Caesarea Philippi that was called The Gates Of Hell.

You can look all of this up and see YouTube videos about all of this. And there were pagan little g gods were worshiped at this temple called in the region, the town of Caesarea Philippi. And the reason why this temple was called The Gates Of Hell is because it went down into a grotto and there were like these sulfur fumes and you would like, you know, get loopy in there, then you would have demonically inspired visions and that’s where the the the practical side of things happened. But then there was also a spiritual side that happened. Jesus goes to Caesarea Philippi.

While he’s at Caesarea Philippi, some significant things happened. You can go back in your bible and read these things. He also, the mount of transfiguration, believe, people believe that that could have been on Mount Hermon where he’s transformed into his glory and basically, if you read the accounts in the gospels, you see that Jesus after, especially in the book of Mark, many times in the early part of Mark, he’ll cast out a demon, he’ll heal somebody and he’ll say, don’t say anybody, say anything it was me. I gotta keep this on the down low for as long as possible. Well, news gets out, his fame spreads and by like, I don’t know, Mark chapter three or something, he can’t even go into a town.

He’s the crowds and the swirl around him is too big. He’s too he’s too big for towns. But he tells people like, because his strategy was to keep his his divine identity identity under wraps for a certain period of time. But then, the mount of transfiguration, Caesarea Philippi, he basically picks a fight. He reveals himself in his glory as the Messiah to the three disciples that were there and they’re like, let’s build a sukkah, let’s hang out.

And especially to all of the demonic forces. Remember when he goes for an exorcism and the demon cries out like like, woah, woah, woah, woah, it’s not your, like, it’s not our time to appoint like affliction and judgment. The demons know that their time is short, that the skull crusher is coming. And when he goes to Caesarea Philippi, he calls out Darks demonic forces, the bulls of Bashan and says, woo hoo, I’m right here and he waves the cape. Well this is a good analogy.

He waves the bullfighter’s cape. Come and get me, come and get me. From Caesarea Philippi, where does Jesus go in the story? More or less, to Jerusalem. Meet me in Jerusalem.

Let’s let’s have this out. And all of the forces of darkness are like, yes, this is it. This is it. But there’s more significance to this region of Bashan. This is where we get the deeper spiritual tie, is that we are not gonna turn there, but in Deuteronomy chapter three, we can You can read about this guy named King Og.

King Og was a giant king and he was descended from the the Here we go. I’ll see if I can do it in just a couple of sentences. Genesis chapter six where the sons of God, little g gods, took human wives, married them, had children that the bible says, the bible says became heroes of old but it produced a race of giants. The Nephilim and then later descendants, the Rephaim and the bible says that King Og was a giant. His bed was 13 feet long made of iron.

He he ruled in the region of Bashan And according to the extra biblical literature, the book of Enoch, when the watchers fell, they made a pact like we want these we want human wives, they’re so pretty. We want human wives but we need to we need to transgress against the law. They made a pact to do it and the bible says that when they came down on the earth, where did they touch down? Mount Hermon. The name Hermon in Hebrew means set apart, set aside for judgment and destruction.

So Jesus knew exactly what he was doing on the Mount Of Transfiguration and at Caesarea Philippi. He was picking a fight. I know that you think of Jesus as the cute little felt board Jesus, meek and mild and pouncing the babies on his knees and blessing the little children patting their heads and taking care of little sheep. And yes, he is all of those, but he is also a he is fierce and he does not shy away from a fight when it needs to happen. You want a fight?

Let’s go. After school in the parking lot. But what he says is, let’s do it in Jerusalem and let’s do winner take all. This is for pink slips. You know, in the drag race, whoever wins the drag race gets both cars.

Let’s do it let’s do it for Jerusalem. You wanna fight? Alright. We’ll bring to the What what do you bring to the table? The enemy says that he’s like, I’m in charge of all the kingdoms of the earth, what I want is Jerusalem.

Jesus like, alright, let’s throw down. The winner of this fight gets Jerusalem. So that’s why Jesus goes to Jerusalem. When people read in Psalms 22 the mighty bulls of Beshon, it created, there was a hyperlink in the culture that they knew exactly what was talking about. It would be like for instance, if I said Transylvanian bats.

See, you’re like, oh. Who do you think of? Transylvanian bats? Vampires. Yeah.

Vampires drag you like, oh. Nothing wrong with Transylvania, it’s a geographic place. Nothing wrong with bats. I mean, maybe you don’t like bats but like, I mean bats are mammals, they’re cool. Okay?

But when you say Transylvanian bats, uh-oh. In a similar way, when you say bulls of Bashan, it pulls together the natural, the fierce, raw, unstoppable power of a bull combined with these dark, malevolent, spiritual forces. Now, let’s put it all together. Jesus goes to pick a fight in Philippi. He says, when he meets in essence, he doesn’t say this in the text, he’s picking a fight, let’s meet in Jerusalem.

And the showdown happens on Calvary. And that old dirty devil thought that this was his greatest victory. How many of you remember in CS Lewis’ book, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? Remember The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe? So so Edmund, he breaks the law of Narnia.

He commits treason because he betrays his family to the white witch. So Edmund has broken the law. Remember the white witch to the white witch comes to claim Edmund. But Aslan knows the law better and he says the law says that the life of Edmund belongs to you but there is a deeper magic in the land of Narnia and the law allows for a substitute. The white witch thought that she had Aslan.

I’ll be able to kill someone that Aslan loves. Aslan says the law allows for a substitute, a death to happen in substitution for Edmund. And she’s like, what are you saying? Aslan’s like, I’ll go, I’ll go to the stone table. And the white witch is like, it’s getting better and better all the time.

Remember the scene, I don’t, I was gonna give you a video clip but just use your imagination. Remember the scene at the stone table where all of these like dark, creepy, ugly things come out and they’ve got their torches? Aslan is bound hand and foot laid on the stone table and all of these like like scary ugly things we had to shield Kai’s eyes when he was little so we wouldn’t get bad dreams when we watched the Chronicles of Narnia. They’re hooping and hollering and cheering and they had Aslan surrounded. And then the white witch, she stands up and she says some stuff And she takes that big stone knife and plunges it into the heart of Aslan and he dies right there on the stone table.

Remember? And what was the reaction of the crowd that had gathered with their torches? Jubilant celebration. We’ve killed Aslan. And it can Narnia can stay under the spell of the white witch, always winter and never Christmas.

What it says in the book. First Corinthians chapter one verse eight. Paul is speaking. He’s like, oh, they missed it. They missed it.

They blew it. But the rulers of this world, there’s a natural component, but we’re focusing on the spiritual component. The rulers of this world have not understood it. If they had, they would not have crucified our glorious lord. Fierce bulls of Bashan had surrounded Jesus on the cross.

This is it. This is our moment. This is when we win. This is when we can stop the fulfillment of the prophecy that God spoke in Genesis chapter three that you would bruise his heel but there would come one that will crush your skull. He said that to the enemy.

The enemy is like, if this is the Messiah, the promised one, he’s revealed himself. We’re going to kill him before he can fulfill. The prophecy spoken by his father, Yahweh. We’ve done it. We’ve short circuited the system.

And if you remember the movie, now you probably have to go back and watch the movie this week, movie night. Remember that big, like, big, like, big bad guy that was like a bull, and he, celebrates? Fierce bulls of Bashan have surrounded me. However, here’s our here’s our landing point. The cross was not the triumph of darkness, but the judgment of it.

For in that hour, what appeared as victory to the enemy was in truth the enemy’s undoing. I don’t wanna spoil what happens for you with Aslan. You can watch the movie this week with mom. But a version of this is where we’re going next week. But for us today, the invitation is to think about and consider our friends, maybe a family that lives here in town, loved ones, coworkers, that they themselves have been caught in the snare of the enemy.

And perhaps for them, it feels as though they are surrounded by fierce bulls. Maybe they’re trapped in addiction and they can’t get out. Maybe they’re in a horrible relationship and they cannot get out. Whatever aspect of life they could find themselves in, they find themselves surrounded by fierce bulls of Bashan. The cool thing is is that Jesus as a master master strategist brings all of them together.

And while they’re mocking and humiliating and surrounding him and cheering cheering for his death, jeering at him, spitting at him. They fall right into his trap where he gets the last laugh. He humiliates them by in that moment of robbing them of all of their rightful legitimate authority, territory, and grounds by satisfying the righteous requirements of the law. So that anyone today that would be surrounded by fierce bulls of Bashan of whatever it is in their life, that authority, that power is only Imagine, it is not real. There is victory in Jesus over any fierce bull of Bashan that would surround a person.

And the the moment of victory, not for the enemy, but for the Messiah happens on the cross. And next Sunday, we will gather to celebrate his victory that is procured when he rises from the dead. The debt has been paid. The the all of the record books have been rectified. The accounts have been justified.

Since he himself committed no crime, death has no rightful claim to him. And the grave could not keep him no more than you could keep a brand new bride from her returning husband from deployment when he steps off the plane. So Jesus, be with us. Speak to us. Help us.

Any areas of our life where we where we find ourselves surrounded by bulls, maybe it’s uncertainty. What are you gonna do this summer? Where are you gonna live? The pressure. The pressure.

What are gonna do with your life? How are you gonna get over that? Whatever it is may feel like strong bulls surrounding you with no way out. And that enemy would try to remind you of Friday. Your best reply can be, yeah, but Sunday is on the way.

You’re welcome. Let’s talk about Easter for just a moment. Maybe the Lord the Holy Spirit’s doing something in your heart. Allow him to continue doing that. Without going too long today, let’s just talk about a couple of really practical things for Easter.

In a moment, Connor’s gonna come up and lead us in our last way of worshiping the Lord this morning with our tithes and offering to share a couple of announcements with us. But we have previously and will send out this graphic in a digital form that you can invite, that that the the crown of thorns that the enemy thought was he was placing as a a crown of humiliation actually becomes a a crown of victory that Jesus holds triumphantly. And in his hands, in his left hand, are the keys to death, hell, and the grave. That’s that’s some cool stuff right there, man. Let’s worship the Lord one other way so that we can segue into announcements.

Connor can share some stuff. We’ll do some quick practical nuts and bolts things, and then we’ll get out of here. So Connor, will you lead us in one more one more way this morning? We worship the Lord. As we talk about Easter and Good Friday, and really this attitude of preparing our hearts for Easter.

There’s no better way week to week, day to day, to prepare our hearts for what the Lord has for us than surrendering our finances to him. It’s just such an easy, practical way to check-in with yourself, especially in this town when we know money always seems to be tight no matter how much of it is coming in. To just say, Lord, I trust you. I give you everything, and I just want what you have for this money that I get. And so, today, as we pray over the tithe, and above and beyond that, the offering, explore in your heart.

Ask him, what would you have me give? Because I love when we talk about Old Testament versus New Testament, that like laws and religion versus relationship. And the New Testament relationship is that everything we have is his. And so it’s not about just the 10%, but it’s God, how would you have me use all of this? And what would you have me do and have me give?

So bow your heads and pray with me. Father God, all we have is yours. And you you you don’t need us to do your work, but what a blessing it is. What an honor it is to be invited to do your work with you, God. What a joy it is to be brought in to do your kingdom work, God.

So we ask that you would take our resources, God, our time, our talent, and our treasure, and use them for your kingdom, God. We lay them all at your feet, and just ask for more of you in return, God, so that we can make your name famous here in this valley into the uttermost bounds of the earth, God. We pray this all in Jesus’ name. Amen. A couple ways to give practically.

We’ve got a box in the back of the room, lockbox downstairs outside the door. Easiest way to do it is on your smartphone, you could send a text to (833) 369-7847. Type give, the dollar sign, and then the dollar amount. There’s Sometimes it’ll send you a little confirm bubble. Make sure you confirm that, because I’ve definitely missed that before.

And then it’ll actually go through, and then it just becomes as easy as texting a friend, And you can also give on our website at tribejh.com. As we talk about these invites, we’re not gonna be doing the big Easter banner this year. And that’s kind of a huge gut punch. It’s a huge bummer, and we have people in this room today who are here because they were just driving through town and saw the big banner at Albertsons. And so We weren’t allowed to.

We weren’t we weren’t allowed to. It’s out of our control. So, we have a huge stack of these at the back of the room, and I’m gonna be pretty bummed if come Sunday when we’re We have a stack. Yeah, when we’re doing teardown, if there’s still a huge sack at the back of the room, because it is on us as a team to get these out, because it’s not gonna be as easy as everybody just driving past it. And so grab a handful on your way out, if for no other reason than making sure that we don’t see that there’s a stack at the back of the room, just so we feel like you guys are doing it.

But like Brian said, this is for reaching the people of this town. And now you have a bit more context too of how to tease what’s gonna be talked about and how to how to explain what this might be. And, yeah, pique people’s interest for those who are curious. And if you don’t get it, it’s okay. Not for us.

Exactly. The image is not for us. It’s those few people who do recognize that image. They’re like, what? A church is doing a what?

And if you don’t get it and they don’t get it, it’s a great way to just say like Yeah. This is all about breaking down the stigma that you have to be a certain way, dress a certain way, act a certain way to show up to church. That is not at all how Jesus operates. That’s right. He sat with sinners all the time, and the religious elite hated him for it.

And we wanna welcome everybody into those doors. As Brian announced at the beginning of service, we’re gonna be doing a Good Friday service here at 6PM. It’s right around an hour. It’d be nice and short just to prepare our hearts for Easter, and then Sunday, we will be 10AM at the Virginian for our big Easter service. There is a clipboard going around right now for meal sign ups for afterwards.

We’re gonna be doing a big potluck, so fill your name in somewhere on there. Ian is also gonna be leading a prayer before service at 09:10AM, and so we would love to see as many of you there as possible. And, like I said, get these things out. We’ve got a week. We’ve got a week to get these out.

So, them out. Get them out. Brian, come for us out. Job, buddy. Love There is a clipboard going around the room to sign up for little tasty num nums and things that you can bring.

You don’t have to be like God’s favorite prayer warrior in order to participate, on in prayer, that morning. But, Gretchen just shared a cool picture with me that she saw, from Psalms 23 that you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And literally, what is the best tasting kind of food there is? Yummy steak. Sorry, vegans.

But like like, we’re gonna feast on the dead, yummy, cooked flesh of that old dirty devil. The bulls of Bijan on Sunday when people give their life to Jesus, when they get set free, when they make a public profession of faith. And so be praying, be praying for me, be praying for the service, be praying about who you would hand this to, be praying about who you would share the digital invite with. Stand up. Let me pray for you.

I will see you next Sunday when we have a lot of guests over at our house. Alright? Lord Jesus, thank you so much. Thank you so much that even though it might look like we are surrounded, we are surrounded by you. Thank you for your goodness.

Father, we lift up this Good Friday service. We lift up the Sunday celebration, Lord, and ask that your name would be made famous in the hearts of people in this city, and as Conor said a moment ago, to the uttermost bounds of the earth. Lord, give us a great week. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen.

I love you so very much. Have a great week. I’ll see you on Friday.