{"id":411919,"date":"2010-03-10T00:29:46","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T05:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordonmoyes.com\/2010\/03\/10\/all-the-names-of-jesus-study-5-forerunner\/"},"modified":"2010-03-10T00:29:46","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T05:29:46","slug":"all-the-names-of-jesus-study-5-forerunner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/411919","title":{"rendered":"ALL THE NAMES OF JESUS – Study 5. Forerunner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Only once in the New Testament is Jesus called “Forerunner” (Heb. 6:20<\/a>) but it is an interesting word requiring our attention. In Classical Greek a forerunner was the word used of scouts who were sent in advance of the rest of the troops. They were fast, light armed, and skilful. Their courage was never questioned. I have seen the word used by the greatest of the Greek military historians, Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, to describe the initiative taken by skilful frontline fighters. Barclay says it was also used of a pilot boat in the harbour at Alexandria to bring in the large ships.<\/p>\n

In the Old Testament the word was used in association with preparing the way for others following (Isa. 40:3-11<\/a>; Mal. 3:1<\/a>). It was also used of the first figs that ripened, as these were signs of the coming of the harvest (Isa. 28:4<\/a>). In the New Testament John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus (Mk. 1:2-8<\/a>) even though this term was not used of him. Jesus in Heb. 6:20<\/a> is a High Priest in succession to Melchizedek, and He has entered within the Holy of Holies on our behalf. He was our forerunner.<\/p>\n

This was a great concept to Jewish people. The Temple consisted of a series of Courts into which progressively fewer people could enter. The High Priest went through the Court of the Gentiles (where the gentiles must stop); The Court of Women (the limit of women’s worship); of the Israelites (Jewish men only); of the Priests (the sacrificial area); and into the Temple proper consisting of the Holy Place and the smaller Holy of Holies where only the High Priest could enter for a moment on the Day of Atonement.<\/p>\n

Jesus was seen as the one High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies not just as our representative but as the first of all those who believe in Him. He opens up the way for all of God’s people to enter into the presence of God personally with boldness (Heb. 10:19-20<\/a>). Jesus commences the priesthood of all believers, of all who believe in Him and follow the way He opened.<\/p>\n

FOR TODAY<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the earliest church papers published by Alexander Campbell was called “Millennial Harbinger”. This paper was the forerunner of the good news that was being spread around the world by believers. The printed word went ahead and opened the way for the preachers and churches which came later. So often our Christian literature lacks this “forerunner” concept. We should be writing literature that goes ahead of the Christian message into non-Christian homes and opens up the way for further Christian cultivation. In my years of broadcasting on radio and television, this was my stated purpose.<\/p>\n

When the scouts went ahead and blazed the trail for the immigrants settling in the new land, they had to be followed or else their efforts would have been wasted. Jesus does not want admirers but followers of the way He has opened.<\/p>\n

As the forerunner Jesus pioneered the way to fullness of life. The word “pioneer” is also used of Jesus (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb. 2:10<\/a>; 12:2) To Him should be given the pre-eminence honour and obedience as He pioneers our way into faith, salvation and abundant life. As He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 24:6<\/a>)<\/p>\n

REV THE HON DR GORDON MOYES AC MLC<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only once in the New Testament is Jesus called “Forerunner” (Heb. 6:20) but it is an interesting word requiring our attention. In Classical Greek a forerunner was the word used of scouts who were sent in advance of the rest of the troops. They were fast, light armed, and skilful. Their courage was never questioned. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}