Turned
The World Upside Down
John 11:45 “Then many of the Jews which
came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus
did, believed on him.
46 But
some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and
told them what things Jesus had done.
47
Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a
council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth
many miracles.
48 If we let him
thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the
Romans shall come and take away both our place and
nation.
49 And one of them,
named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same
year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
50 Nor consider that it is
expedient for us, that one man should die for the
people, and that the whole nation perish not.
51 And this spake he not of
himself: but being high priest that year, he
prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
52 And not for that nation only,
but that also he should gather together in one the
children of God that were scattered abroad.
53 Then from that day forth they
took counsel together for to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore walked no more
openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a
country near to the wilderness, into a city called
Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
55 And the Jews' passover was nigh
at hand: and many went out of the country up to
Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
56 Then sought they for Jesus, and
spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple,
What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?
57 Now both the chief priests and
the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any
man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they
might take him.”
1. Believing Is Logical
2. Going Their
way
3. Flipping the Apple Cart Over
4. The
Plan To Murder
1. Believing Is Logical
Verse forty-five: “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”
Seeing is believing for anyone who has old fashion common sense. [We are not talking about the sleight of hand here.]
These Jews had seen first hand the miracles, the signs and the wonders that Jesus Christ had done.
There can be only one logical conclusion made by them [the Jews] … when they “had seen the things which Jesus did.”
That conclusion was this; that God was with us, as the Scripture foretold in Isaiah, and in [Matthew 1:23b]: “and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
The five hundred witnesses … who saw HIM after HE rose from the grave ,,, BELIEVED. [1 Corinthians 15:6] “After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”
Seeing is believing!
It was just plain “logical” for them to conclude that Jesus Christ is GOD [“believed on him”]. Amen!
Turn to First John, chapter one. Here is how the Apostle John, by the HOLY GHOST, said it. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” [1 John 1:1-3]
2. Going Their Way
Verse forty-six: “But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.”
Everyone in this old world ultimately chooses their own way. We are all so headstrong about it, [choosing our own way]. We are BULL-HEADED!
That old REBEL self … just wants to have its way.
Now, isn’t that the truth? Come on, just admit it, or the LORD will smoke it out of you.
Here is what the Spirit of God said through HIS prophet Isaiah about the problem [of us going our own way]. [Isaiah 53:6] “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Furthermore, when we all turn to our own ways, we will all end up at our own PLACES. Does that make sense? Let me tell you something, Judas did! Judas went his own way. Judas went to his own place.
Go to the book of Acts chapter one, verse twenty-five, and see. [Acts 1:25] "That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
Now, do you understand what Judas’ place is?
It is HELL. That brings HOME a truth for us all. We all will go to some place! That is a fact! What way are you going?
Where is your place?
3. Flipping The Apple Cart Over
Verse forty-eight: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.”
The Jewish religious leaders ultimately care about only one thing. They only care about staying in power. That is their game! Power mongering absolutely corrupts.
Another way of stating it is: amongst men … absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is why they [the power mongrels] can only see as far as the tip at the end of their noses. The Jews realized if Jesus Christ is not stopped that “all men will believe on him”, and they would loose their place [of preeminence].
Now, keep in mind Jesus Christ’s stated goal with respect to HIS mission on this earth [DIVISION], it follows, that “all men” believing in the SON of GOD would pose a genuine threat to their APPLE CART to being flipped over.
[Now, “the apple cart” … is the Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s religious hierarchy over the people.]
The Jew’s, here, are like those Jews in Thessalonica that had accused the Christians of having turned the world upside down.
To see this, turn in Bible to the book of Acts, chapter seventeen, verse six: “And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” [Acts 17:6]
Do you see how it works among the unbelieving, religious crowd?
Jesus Christ [and all those who put their faith and trust into Jesus Christ] is considered a TROUBLEMAKER.
It never occurs to them even just once, that the true troublemakers in this world are those who hate Jesus Christ.
Let us move on to their default plan.
4. The Plan To Murder
Verse fifty-three: “Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”
From that day forward … the religious hierarchy began mapping it out HOW they might kill Jesus Christ.
Nice folks! They are such nice, nice religious folks, just meeting together in a friendly way to formulate a plan how they were going to make their “hit.”
In the Elizabethan precision words of The BOOK [the King James Bible], the thoughts and intents of wicked men are made known. [See Hebrews 4:12, IN ACTION.]
Turn to Psalm ten, verse one, and see HOW they plan to murder. The Bible covers it all!
“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.”
Did you see those words: “His ways” [mans]?
Now, verse six through verse eleven: “He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and Fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.”
He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.”
Here is something else. Certain men always seem to be scheming [as to how] to get power, money, position, and fame over the “innocent” or they are scheming [as to how] to keep their power, money, position, and fame over the “innocent.”
They will let nothing stop them. If it takes murdering “the innocent” to get what they want, [so be it], then they will proceed to take counsel of how to proceed in their plan to do the murder.
In verse fifty-three, we have nothing but the beginning of the fulfillment of the parable which is found in three places in the Bible [Matthew, Mark and Luke] concerning the leasing out of a vineyard to “husbandmen”, by a “certain man” who had “planted a vineyard.”
[We see this in Luke, chapter twenty, in verse nine.]
This parable matches perfectly with our text in John eleven.
Let’s look at it! “Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.”
Now, read Luke chapter twenty, verse thirteen and fourteen: “Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.” [Luke 20:13-14]
Now, do you see what good religious people are capable of doing?
These religious folks nurtured and eventually hatched their little scheme to fruition [THE WRONG].
They killed [murdered] THE LORD of GLORY.
[1 Corinthians 2:8] “Which none of the
princes of this world knew: for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”