2014-01-10
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, the Holy Spirit had me writing about the criteria for a Leader in our lives, one in Whom we can believe and trust. This Leader would be wise, compassionate, would endure pain and suffering for those He leads. And, what truly separates Him from all others is that He is willing to sacrifice His own physical life as our Covenant Partner for us-His flock of sheep. Of course only one Deity fits the bill, and that is Jesus Christ! He spoke, in JN 15: 15, about sacrificing His life for us, and He carried that out, as we see in JN 3: 16 and RO 3: 24-25. Our God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit are the Embodiment of truth as it is described in HE 4: 12-13. There is no evil in Him [JN 7: 18]. If we are true believers, then these words, from IS 53: 4-5, to our very core will evoke deep appreciation for what Christ has done for us. “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”
In ancient times when two partners were making a covenant with each other, they would make incisions in each other’s wrists and then rub an irritant, e.g. dirt or gun powder, in them to leave a permanent scar as a reminder of this two-way promise. This causes me to think of the story of Christ and Thomas, in JN 20: 24-29, with it’s inherent lessons. His fellow disciples told this doubter that they had seen the Lord Jesus. Thomas would reply, “Unless I see the marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it” [25b]. One with such doubts should have paid attention to the fact that two or more of his friends were witnesses to Christ, because it took at least two witnesses for a Jewish person to take something seriously [DT 17: 6 and 19: 15]. Had Thomas’ faith been strong enough, he would have remembered the words of the angel of the Lord in ZECH 12: 10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a first-born son.” But, it is easy for us to say this in perfect 20/20 hindsight. Once Thomas actually saw the Lord Jesus and touched His wounds, he knew immediately that this Man was his Lord and Savior. Christ says, in [JN 20: 29], “Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
My study of the history of my own people (the Jews) is partly sad, because of the mistakes we have made along the way. The greatest of these mistakes has been on the part of those who practice idolatry, no matter what era in which they live. A group set apart initially as those who believe in One God [DT 6: 4-5], piece by piece, era by era, first rejected this God as their political Leader (when they wanted a human king instead of Him as their King with Saul [1 SAM 11: 15]) and then, as their spiritual Leader (when even the priests practiced idolatry within rooms in the walls of the Jerusalem temple [EZK 8: 6-10]. Is it no wonder that the shekinah glory of God departed from the temple [EZK 10: 18-19]? To demonstrate His righteousness [RO 3: 26], God punished the Jews, first in 722 BC with the Assyrian Captivity of Israel in the north, and then, beginning in 602 BC with the Babylonian Captivity of Judah in the south. By 586 BC, theJerusalem temple was sacked entirely, except for its western wall. It wasn’t until 444 BC, that Cyrus the Great of Medo-Persia [which by then had conquered the Babylonian empire] began releasing the Jews in three waves led by Erza, Zerubbabel, and then, Nehemiah back to their homeland. Things didn’t go smoothly even then, because the Jewish people began by rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, then their homes, and lastly taking 34 years to rebuild the temple. The latter should have been their first priority. There was also great need for reforms in the priesthood too. These stories are told in the books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Even in more modern times, mankind continues to repeat the same mistakes. We certainly can take the rejection of Christ’s deity and inability to recognize Who He is during His earthly incarnation as a main one. Our modern day form of idolatry is greed and materialism. (I happen to be writing this on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the second day of Chanukah this year. It is a day in which people-not necessarily Jews, physically fighting over bargains at a Wal-Mart- were actually on the news). When will we learn these are only things that will pass away in the eternal sense? When will we understand that God doesn’t care how much money we have, but rather, what we do with what we have? When will mankind understand that what clothes we wear, how many degrees we have after our name, what gender or ethnicity we are, or any of the other human criteria with which we rank ourselves don’t matter to God in His estimation of us? Instead, we should have a permanent memory of GN 15: 6, “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited him as righteous.” That short verse should have a huge impact on all of us!
PRAYER: O Lord, You have prayed for us, and we are grateful and reverent. Today, we pray with Your prayers in mind. JN 17: 24, “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world.” How revealing this part of Your prayer really should be to us! Peter tells us about the reasons for our faith in 1 PET 1: 18-21, which illuminates Your own prayer. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, A Lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in those last times for Your sake. Through Him you believe in God, Who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” We must also understand that You are our Covenant Partner, carry our wounds, wounds You took on for us, because You love us. We surely don’t deserve Your love, but gratefully accept it and pledge to serve You for the remainder of our lives-though they be for eternity if we are genuinely faithful to You. JN 3: 30, “Jesus must be greater; we must be less.” In that sense, Dearest Lord, we humbly thank and praise You for Who You are and for what You do in our lives. Your presence and intervention in them allows us to be effective in whatever task we are called by the Father to do. We witness to our faith in You and desire to be obedient to You. It is in Your holy/mighty name, Jesus Christ, that we offer this prayer. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to begin a new segment of this “Our Covenant” series called “Our Covenant Mark.” First, we will look at the physical marks some before us had because of their faith and/or social station in life. Such an examination might cause us to appreciate more the advantages we have in modern life. But we will also eventually look at the unseen scars a faithfully obedient person to God also carries. In the meanwhile, we need to understand that things repeated in the Scriptures are things God really feels are important and on which we must meditate. JN 14: 1-4 gives us both encouragement from the Lord Jesus and further illumination on the topic which has been at hand. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would tell you plainly. I am going to prepare a place for you, and when everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you can be with Me wherever I am.” Yes, our Lord Jesus both prays for us and loves us. Yes, He is our Covenant Partner. Just as we are obligated to be His friends and servants, He has also obligated Himself to care for us for eternity! That’s what true covenant partners do for each other. I’m intrigued by the godly covenant that was made between the houses of David and Saul through David and Jonathan [1 SAM 18: 1-3]. Does this mean that the family of God and our human family are obligated to each other? I believe it does, as Christ teaches us in the Parable of the Good Samaritan [LK 10: 25-37]. And what about godly Jews, are they included in this? Of course, we as believers in Jesus Christ, are obligated to treat all people as our Lord Jesus would. That means that we must work to break down the walls of prejudice that exist, and to witness to our genuine faith in our Lord to them and anyone else who will listen. This love is given to us by Christ, and for that and so much more, we should eternally offer Him thanks and praise!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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