The Monarch Butterfly—An Illustration of Transformation—Part 7—Jesus' Teachings and Transforming People

 

Monarch Butterfly 

Introduction and Review

Part five of this series discussed how the number four marked the Genealogy and birth of Christ the Messiah. Messianic themes fit into this category. This part of the lesson will examine the transformative teachings and healings. 

Jesus Preaching the Beatitudes by James Tissot

The Beatitudes of Transformation

Luke also presents the Beatitudes of Jesus in the form of four blessings with four matching curses. They are outlined in what is known as "The Sermon on the Plain." The sermon portrays Jesus as "The Son of Man," who is like us. And the Beatitudes are His counsel to us.

Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples and said: 

1. Blessed are you, poor, 

For yours is the kingdom of God.  

2. Blessed are you who hunger now, 

For you shall be filled. 

3. Blessed are you who weep now, 

For you shall laugh. 

4. Blessed are you when (1) men hate you, 

And when (2) they exclude you, 

And (3) revile you, and (4) cast out your name as evil 

For the Son of Man’s sake. 

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! 

For indeed your reward is great in heaven, 

For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. 

1. “But woe to you who are rich, 

For you have received your consolation. 

2. Woe to you who are full, 

For you shall hunger. 

3. Woe to you who laugh now, 

For you shall mourn and weep. 

4. Woe to you, men speak well of you, 

For so did their fathers to the false prophets.  

 

— Luke 6 

 

Notice the fourth blessing at the center, which lists four forms of persecution.

Matthew's beatitudes are in the form of eight (4x2) blessings. Four are included in Luke's version, which differs slightly. Luke titles the discourse "The Sermon on the Mount," portraying Jesus as the King of Kings who issues the protocols of His kingdom on the earth. 

The first four reflect spiritual lack.

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

2. Blessed are those who mourn, 

For they shall be comforted. 

3. Blessed are the meek, 

For they shall inherit the earth.

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

For they shall be filled.

The second four reflect virtues.

1.  Blessed are the merciful, 

For they shall obtain mercy.

2. Blessed are the pure in heart, 

For they shall see God.

3. Blessed are the peacemakers, 

For they shall be called sons of God.

4. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, 

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

— Matthew 5:3-10

Relative to the Gospel, Matthew is addressing a Jewish audience. Luke's Gospel addresses a Gentile audience. Can we see in these Beatitudes the blessings and happiness of those who follow Jesus Christ to both Jew and Gentile?

... the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. 

— Acts 26:23

"Man need not perfect heaven, because it is already dedicated to the holiness of God. But the earth is man's province. We are bidden to perfect it and transform its material nature into something spiritual. Indeed, we were created to make the earth heavenly." 

— Commentary on Psalm 115:16 Mesorah, "The Book of Psalms Shcottenstein Edition."

 

Zacchaeus
https://www.meisterdrucke.it/stampe-d-arte/William-Brassey-Hole/1016801/Ges%C3%B9-chiama-Zaccheo-il-pubblicano-a-ospitarlo-a-casa-sua.html

Zacchaeus Returns Fourfold

The book of Luke records an incident of a transformed heart that occurs with one man's encounter with Christ.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector and was wealthy because of it. He most likely acquired his wealth through questionable means and at the expense of his neighbors.

The text also records that he was a short man who had heard that Jesus would pass by, so he climbed a fig tree to see Jesus. Jesus notices him and declares that he intends to visit his house, to which Zacchaeus joyfully accepts the invitation. What accompanied his joy must have been a conviction and the fact that he did a little house cleaning, or could we say heart cleaning, in the form of a confession and promise of restitution. 

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 

— Luke 19:8 

The Old Testament Law required that if someone stole a sheep, they must pay it back fourfold.

If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. 

— Exodus 22:1

This legality is also evident when the prophet Nathan confronts King David about his adultery with Bathsheba. Not only did he commit adultery, but David had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, killed in battle to cover up the resulting pregnancy. Nathan confronts David with a hypothetical story that would mirror his misdeeds.

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 

— 2 Samuel 12:1-4

David is appalled by the rich man's deplorable action. He requires not only the life of the rich man but also that he restore fourfold for the lamb.

So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity. 

— 2 Samuel 12:5-6 

Zacchaeus demonstrated, through his actions, a genuine understanding of the gravity of his sins and how they affected those he had harmed and stolen from to acquire his wealth. He realized that these were the Lord's defenseless and helpless lambs that needed no further oppression, especially from one of their own, which is the prerequisite for any genuine repentance or transforming change of heart.

Jesus heals the paralytic.

Four Men and the Transformation of a Friend

A practical application of the number four and the earth in Scripture appears in Mark's version of the healing of the paralytic man brought to Jesus by four men. It is the only miraculous event recorded that mentions the earth. When the scribes had reasoned within themselves that it was blasphemous for Jesus to forgive the man's sins, Jesus replied with a question. 

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. 

— Mark 2:10

Another practical application from this event is that the four men represented the limitations of the material world, which could not save this man from his condition. His paralytic condition illustrated what sin can do to one's life. 

"Palsy is a fit emblem of sin's paralyzing power and of the utter helplessness of the sinner to do anything for his own relief...If you have a burden regarding a friend who is palsied by sin and is helpless and hopeless in his or her condition, then that one must be "borne of four" - your consecrated life, your compassionate love, your prevailing intercession, and your undaunted faith." 

— Herbert Lockyer, All the Miracles of the Bible 

The paralyzed man's four friends took him up to the roof, illustrating going over the physical realm's head and limitations by prayer. 

... the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 

— Revelation 8:4 

This idea of rooftop and prayer is confirmed in Acts chapter 10.

Peter went up on the housetop to pray. 

— Acts 10:9

The narrative continues. 

They brought the man to Jesus. Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. 

— Matthew 19:26

The idea that prayer invites God's kingdom's heavenly realm to visit and affect the earth links to the Transfiguration (Metamorphoo—one of the four uses), as accounted in Mark chapter nine. Just after returning from the Mount of Transfiguration, a man approaches Jesus, explaining that a demon possesses his son and that his disciples cannot deliver him. The disciples seem equally perplexed, since it was just before the Transfiguration that Jesus gave them the authority to do this. Jesus replies to their confusion.

"... Bring him to Me." 

— Mark 9:19

 He then proceeds to tell them how to do that.

“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” 

— Mark 9:29

In both accounts, people were brought to Jesus by limited human beings through prayer. One dealt with deliverance, the other with healing and forgiveness. Whatever the malady, it is all incurable from a human perspective, but "With God, all things are possible." 

We, too, are excitedly invited to participate in transformation through intercession by bringing our loved ones to Him in prayer. Charles Spurgeon comments on the four friends and their role in participating in God's work. 

“And the Lord shewed me four carpenters.” 

— Zechariah 1:20

"In the vision described in this chapter, the prophet saw four terrible horns. They were pushing this way and that way, dashing down the strongest and the mightiest; and the prophet asked, “What are these?” The answer was, “These are the horns which have scattered Israel.”... but on a sudden, there appeared before him four carpenters. He asked, “What shall these do?” These are the men whom God hath found to break those horns in pieces. God will always find men for his work, and he will find them at the right time ... the Lord finds enough men. He did not find three carpenters, but four; there were four horns, and there must be four workmen ... Rest assured, you who tremble for the ark of God, that when the “horns” grow troublesome, the “carpenters” will be found.  

In Acts chapter twelve, Peter is imprisoned and kept by four squads of soldiers. It was through continuous prayer that an angel miraculously delivered him. Our understanding of four shows us that prayer's activity in the Spirit realm supersedes any hindering force in this natural physical realm.

Jesus Heals
James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum 

Jesus Transforms the Deformed

After healing a Canaanite woman in Matthew chapter fifteen, Jesus left there, went up a mountain, and sat down. Great multitudes of various ailments came to Him to have their conditions changed and transformed. Their conditions are listed in four specific categories with four particular transformations. 

Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, and large crowds came to Him, having with them 

1. the lame, 

2. the blind, 

3. the deformed, 

4. those unable to speak, 

and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them. So the crowd was amazed when they saw 

1. those unable to speak, talking 

2. the deformed restored, 

3. the lame walking, 

4. and the blind seeing. And they gave glory to the God of Israel. 

— Matthew 15:29-31  

 

Christ Among the Multitude
Robert T. Barrett

The Fourth Miracle

The fourth miracle in the book of John, the fourth Gospel, is the feeding of the five thousand, which occurs in all four Gospels. In this narrative, Jesus reveals Himself to be the bread of life. Minister and writer Alexander McClaren makes the following note from his book McClaren's Exposition of the Holy Scriptures, referring to the perplexity the disciples experienced at Jesus' suggestion that they feed and provide for such a large crowd.

"He puts problems before us, too, to settle; takes us, as it were, into His confidence with interrogations that try us, whether we can rise above the level of the material and visible, or whether all our conceptions of possibilities are bounded by these ... Learn that the audacity of a faith that expects great things, though there be nothing visible upon which to build, is wiser and more prudent than the creeping common-sense that adheres to facts which are shadows, and forgets that the chief fact is that we have an Almighty Helper and Friend at our sides ... notice what a lovely glimpse we get there into the quick-rising sympathy of the Savior with all forms of human necessity. 

Maclaren takes two lessons from this event that are relevant to this study. 

I believe, a revelation of the law of the universe, of Christ as being through all the ages the Sustainer of the physical life of men ... The reason why anything is, and the reason why all things change, is the energy there and then of the indwelling God who is in all His works, and who is the only Will and Power in the physical world ... Our Christ is Creator, our Christ is Sustainer, our Christ moves the stars and feeds the sparrows. He was 'before all things, and in Him all things consist.' He opens His hand—and there is the print of a nail in it—and 'satisfies the desire of every living thing ... And I see in it, second, a symbol of Christ as Himself the Bread of Life ... the miracle is a sign ... the one Food that gives life to will, affections, conscience, understanding, to the whole spirit of a man, is that great Sacrifice of the Incarnate Lord who gave upon the Cross His flesh, and on the Cross shed His blood, for the life of the world that was 'dead in trespasses and sins.' Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us, and we feed on the sacrifice. Let your conscience, your heart, your desires, your anticipations, your understanding, your will, your whole being feed on Him. He will be cleansing, He will be love, He will be fruition, He will be hope, He will be truth, He will be righteousness, He will be all. Feed upon Him by that faith which is the true eating of the true Bread, and your souls shall live.  

The Resurrection of Lazarus by James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum

An Image of Resurrection for the Newly Created, Transformed, Mind Renewed, Child of God

Another revelation and scriptural example of the number four in the physical realm, which illustrates the spiritual in the transformation process, comes from John chapter 11—the resurrection of Lazarus. This portion of Scripture records that Lazarus had been dead in the tomb for four days when Jesus raised him from the dead. We see in this demonstration of Lazarus's physical body raised from death to life, which imaged all that Christ would do spiritually through His three-day death, burial, and spiritual resurrection. (The number three represents the concreteness and dimension of spiritual realities.)

Finally, in Acts 1, the expression "taken up" appears four times in reference to Christ's ascension. Criswell's Study Bible notes make this observation relative to the created realm.

"The ascension removed Christ from the realm of time and space in which He brought redemption to man." 

 

The Transfiguration by James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum

Fours in the Transfiguration

We will use all three Synoptic Gospels to obtain a composite view of the transfiguration of Christ, beginning with Matthew. 

... Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them ...

— John 17:1-2

The Greek word "transfigured" in this passage is the word metamorphoo, which is used four times in Scripture.  It is used in Mark 9 to refer to this same event. It is used in Romans 12:2 about being transformed by the renewing of our minds. And its final use is in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where it expresses being changed into glory by beholding God's glory. 

Luke tells us that the transfiguration occurred eight days after the previous discussions. 

Now it came to pass, about eight (4 x 2) days after these sayings (take up your cross and follow me discussion), that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

— Luke 9:28

Matthew and Mark say six days for some logical counting reasons, but also because each Gospel writes to highlight particular things. The six-day thought in Matthew and Mark links us back to the Exodus story when Moses waited to see God's glory for six days.  

Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

— Exodus 24:16

This matches the cloud that descends in the transfiguration narrative. 

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

— Matthew 17:5

The eight-day count in Luke is pointing more toward the consecration of an event, as was every consecration in the Bible. Temple consecrations occurred on the eighth day, followed by the glory and spirit of God in the form of a cloud filling the temple. (Exodus 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 5:14; 7:1-2; Ezekiel 10:4; 43:5; 44:4). The number eight is related to four and transformation through the idea of new beginnings. 

The Gospel of Mark includes four descriptions of the whiteness and brightness they saw.

His clothes became 

1. shining, 
2. exceedingly white, 
3. like snow, 
4. such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

— Mark 9:3

Luke's account tells us that four things happened during prayer.

As He prayed,

1. The appearance of His face was altered, 
2. and His robe became white and glistening. 
3. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 
4. who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

— Luke 9:30-31

Matthew and Mark mention of Elijah restoring all things, which is also an aspect of transformation.

böhringer Friedrich

Four Name Changes in the New Testament

The New Testament presents four people whose names were changed. The first is Simon Peter, who was transformed from an ordinary fisherman into a preacher of the Gospel and a martyr for Christ. 

... when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah, You shall be called Cephas.” (which is translated, A Stone). 

— John 1:42

Jesus called John and James the "Sons of Thunder." James was the first disciple to be martyred, and John was the last. Peter, James, and John are known as Christ's inner circle of disciples. 

Love is the method of transformation that God uses. In the book of First John, the word "love" and its relatives occur over 40 times. The Got Questions website makes the following observation.

This "Son of Thunder" was so transformed by Christ that he inherited a new nickname, "The Apostle of Love."

The fourth person in the New Testament to have his name changed was Saul, who became Paul.

... Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

— Acts 13:9

The Scriptures don't tell us why Saul's name changed to Paul, but an obvious observation may be made. Saul is a Hebrew name, and Paul is a Gentile name. One of the most extraordinary acts of transformation in the Gospel was the inclusion of Gentiles in the promise of salvation through the Jewish Messiah. Paul became specifically a minister and preacher to the Gentiles, as Paul himself testifies.

He (The Lord) said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’” 

— Acts 22:21