Jesus' cousins were the Apostles James and John

This is a post I'd really like to get your comment on ...

Most people know that Jesus and John the Baptist were second cousins, but few know that the Apostles James and John were Jesus' first cousins.

I've always found John the Baptist interesting because I was born on the feast day of St. John the Baptist (June 24th) and was actually named "John" for this reason. Jay is a nickname. I later became the editor of The Forerunner which is another name for John the Baptist. John was a bold prophet who spoke the word of God without fear for his own life. James and John were similar. They were called the "Sons of Thunder" by Jesus. The Apostle John is also known as the "disciple whom Jesus loved." So my other namesake, the Apostle John, is interesting to me as well.

This is something I discovered this year while reading a book on the canonicity of the Bible. Jesus' first cousins were James and John. I doubted this when I first read it, but the more I looked at the scriptures concerning the relationships, the more convinced I became that this is right. It has significance because it helps to explain how the New Testament canon came about. It also helps to explain several other obscure passages in the New Testament scriptures.

I'll write more on that later, but first the data. Read the following and decide for yourself if Salome is the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, and Mary's sister. If you disagree or agree, I'd like to get your comments.

1. In the Gospel of Matthew, James and John are identified as the sons of Zebedee.

"And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father" (Matthew 4:21).

2. Standing among the women near the cross with Jesus' mother Mary was the mother of Zebedee's children as identified by the Gospel of Matthew.

"Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children (Matthew 27:56).

3. Standing among the women near the cross with Jesus' mother Mary was Salome as identified by the Gospel of Mark.

"There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome" (Mark 15:40).

4. Salome was Jesus' mother's sister as the apostle John himself states, about his own mother. Mark's Gospel account refers to her by name. John's Gospel account refers to her by her relationship to Mary.

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene" (John 19:25).

From Matthew's account we know that James and John were the sons of Zebedee. By comparing Matthew and Mark we discover that Salome was the name of wife of the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John. From John we see that Salome was Mary's sister.

I first thought that there could be other women in the account as well, but the order of the names and the similarity of the language in the accounts leads me to be almost certain that Jesus' mother's sister is Salome, the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John. Therefore, James and John were Jesus' first cousins.

The implications of this are enormous when we consider how the various books of the New Testament were compiled and the roles that James and John, and also the "brothers of the Lord" James and Jude, had in writing and compiling the New Testament canon.

I'll write more on that idea next.

Boston's "Quiet Revival" 2007

Here's a link to a video about Boston and the churches that are working for "revival" in that city.

As a person who has become skeptical of various "revival" movements, that are not actually revivals at all in a historic sense, this effort actually encouraged me. Here are people who understand the great mission to which God has called the church. There are no big claims made here, just a hopeful message about what God wants to do in Boston to raise up churches that will be a light to the region, the nation, and the world.

You can forward this to anyone you think will pray for these men and their vision for Revival.

Be sure to also check out the Boston Awakening on-line magazine!

- Jay Rogers

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Dear Friends,

A picture is worth a thousand words! This month rather than creating a written newsletter I am sending a video newsletter. The video is actually an 11-minute promotional piece that we recently put together for our upcoming Intercultural Leadership Consultation of New England. As you watch the video please pray that God's Kingdom purposes will be fully realized in this gathering. Also, I would deeply appreciate specific prayer for me as I give leadership to this highly complex project and for the many details that need to come together in the next 60 days!

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support. Without them this event would not be possible!

Click on the link below to view the video. If you have problems, you may need to click on a message bar that reads "Click here to turn on links." In Outlook this bar appears at the top of the email window between the sender's and receiver's names. If all else fails, you may copy the link and paste it directly into your web browser. If you do this, you should not include any prefixes such as "http" or "www"; only the address given below. Please let me know if you have problems.

mms://67.19.92.123/cl3/ptv/ILC 2007 Promo.wmv

Many thanks!

Gregg

_______________________
Rev. Dr. Gregg Detwiler
Emmanuel Gospel Center
Intercultural Ministries Director
2 San Juan St.
PO Box 180245
Boston, MA 02118-0994
617-262-4567, ext. 191
www.egc.org

Fourteen generations of Matthew 1:17 and the "seventy sevens" of Daniel 9:24

Here is something I've never thought of before. It has to do with the relationship between the Daniel 9 prophecy and the genealogy in Matthew 1. I am sure I am not the first, but I was wondering if you ever heard of this and what you think about it.

- Jay

Question asked by a viewer of The Real Jesus:

How many generations were there between Abraham and David? Matthew 1:17 lists fourteen generations. Matthew 1:2 lists thirteen generations.

My Answer:

It's simply a matter of how you count. You can count each period as fourteen generations first by extending from Abraham to David; secondly, by extending from David to the deportation to Babylon in the time of Jechonias; and thirdly, by extending from Jechonias to Christ. Matthew was aware that he was being inclusive or doubling up on one generation in each case.

There is no question that Matthew manipulated the number of generations to get multiples of "two times seven" -- seven being the number of perfection in the Hebrew mind. Matthew is also concerned with the idea that there were roughly equal time periods divided into three eras. The coming of the Messiah was an expected event after the end of the last period - according to Daniel 9.

Matthew's concern is the number of years rather than the exact number of literal generations (a generation is 40 years). 14 generations (14*40) = 560 years.

Matthew is trying to show that the prophecy of Daniel 9 is fulfilled in Jesus because the captivity lasted 70 years. If we subtract the 70 year captivity, then we get the "seventy sevens" of the Daniel 9 prophecy.

560-70=490.

Of course, there are not exactly 560 years from the captivity (609 B.C.) to the generation of Jesus Christ (3 B.C. to 30 A.D.) Nor are there exactly 1680 years from Abraham to Jesus. If that were so, all these 40 plus people would have had to bear sons on their 40th birthday.

But Matthew as a Jew is trying to convince other Jews that the genealogy of Jesus "fit" the Daniel prophecy with the number "seven" in mind. This is why he posits the idea of three 560 year periods.

Teaching Christian Ethics in the Public Schools of Ukraine

From July 1st to July 8th, I traveled to Mukacheve in the Trans-Carpathian Mountain region and participated in a “teacher’s camp” put on by Hope to People Ministries of Rivne, Ukraine. Every American knows the Carpathian region, which stretches from Poland to Romania, from the images of Gothic castles that are the backdrop of numerous legends such as Count Dracula. This westernmost area of Ukraine was historically part of Poland and Hungary until it was most recently absorbed into the Soviet Union in the 1940s.

Everyone also knows that prayer and Bible reading has been restricted or banned in American public schools since the early 1960s. I found it ironic that as an American public high school teacher, I was asked to speak to a group of over 90 Ukrainian teachers many of whom teach “Christian Ethics” classes in the public schools of Ukraine. This program was implemented two years ago after the so-called “Orange Revolution.” The new presidential administration of Ukraine now contains a strong evangelical Christian presence. One of its first acts was to take some steps to counteract the negative effects of western materialism among the nation’s young people. The national government decided that Christian ethics classes would be offered in the public schools.

Some school districts in Ukraine are taking steps to see that students are taught biblically based ethics. The program is an elective course and is strictly voluntary. I was told that there is such a demand for these courses that some teachers with no church background are asked to teach the courses.

Not surprisingly, the first studies on the effects of this program have shown a desirable effect in the both the behavior and the academic achievement of the students who have taken these classes. Contrast this with the sharp decline in academic achievement and a rising incidence of numerous social maladies among American young people since the 1960s. In one off our lesson discussions, I had the chance to share on some of the studies that have been done since 1962 when prayer was eliminated from public school that have shown the sharp increase in divorce, single parent families, births to unmarried women, abortion, child abuse, drug abuse, teenage sexual activity, juvenile violent crime, and so on. This is of course coupled with the sharp decline of academic achievement shown in standardized test scores.

I don’t believe that simply the removal of the Bible and prayer from schools was the direct cause of all this, but that these trends were part of a social revolution in America that started at about this time. I said that I see it as a great irony that I was able to talk to teachers in a formerly atheistic country that recognized that moral deterioration was due to the lack of instruction in Christian ethics.

Of the teachers at the camp, about 30 were from evangelical churches. The rest were either Eastern Orthodox or else had no church affiliation at all. However, many of the attendees were superintendents, principals, department heads and leaders in education. Pastor Taras Prystupa began these training camps for teachers and librarians ten years ago. In the beginning most of the attendees were unconverted, yet a relationship has been developed and most of the teachers return each year, for a week of instruction, fun excursions in the afternoons and nightly biblical preaching and teaching.

Some teachers have professed faith in Jesus Christ as result of hearing the word of God preached at these camps. Others have come each year and have developed a relationship with the Christian teachers and have become more open to the Gospel message as a result of this ministry. The focus of the camp is evangelistic in nature.

The following week I traveled to Rivne, which is located in northwestern Ukraine. I spent a few days getting acquainted with the many ministries of Hope to People. In addition to the outreach to teachers, there is also their work with an orphanage, a youth sports ministry, numerous summer camps for youth, a new magazine for Christian teachers, a seminary and Bible school, and some building projects – a future youth camp, a church building and the Hope to People Center – a Soviet era building that is being slowly renovated to house the outreach ministries.

I was told that the main need is for workers and people who will come from abroad on short-term missions trips. Having American Christians stay and work even for short periods of time is a great encouragement to these Christians in a nation where less than one percent of the population is evangelical.

If you have an interest in taking a trip to Ukraine in 2008 to take part in a Christian teachers camp – or if you are interested in working with youth or just seeing what is happening in this vital mission field – you can contact me and I will put you in contact with Hope to People.

The Lord's Prayer in Ukrainian

I haven't posted to my blog in over a month because I was in Ukraine for three weeks in July 2007. This video was taken at an outdoor museum in Uzhgorod in the Transcarpathian region. I bought this embroidered hanging that has the Lord's Prayer in Ukrainian. I was pleased that I had learned enough Ukrainian and Russian to recognize the prayer immediately. I had my new friends, Oksanna and Olga, read it in Ukrainian so I could practice the correct pronunciation. Enjoy!