2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Yesterday, I spoke about JN 1: 29-30, in which John the Baptist announces the coming of the Lamb of God. This Scripture is in a passage on that subject that bears greater inspection during this Lenten season. Verse 29 contains the phrase, “…but He is greater than I am, because He existed before I was born.” That must have been quite a difficult comment for the listeners who knew John the Baptist well to understand. They would have known, as we do, that John’s physical birth happened six months before that of Christ [see LK 1:26-33]. John was conveying God’s invitation for the people who heard him to reach toward a Godly perspective and come to faith in something that defies the laws of the physical world. Those of us who read the Scriptures and believe in Jesus Christ understand His role in the creation of the world from our understanding of JN 1: 1-4, AC 2: 23 & 4: 27-28, COL 1: 15-20, and 1 PET 1: 20-21. But, none of John the Baptist’s listeners had these revelations. So, God was challenging them to understand this on faith. When we reread these passages, the point I am making can be seen. The requests that God makes of us that are faith issues require giant steps at times, steps for which only He can equip us to make. Yet, enough of John’s listeners made those steps to allow His church to eventually be established on earth with His Son at its cornerstone.
God didn’t leave John the Baptist with no way to convey his message announcing Christ’s coming effectively. Enough hearts had been brought to take John seriously that when he gave his testimony as to Christ’s importance in JN 1: 32-33, he was believed. Listen to the words he said. “…I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on a man; He is the One Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen it, and I tell you, He is the Son of God.” And thus, the coming of the Lamb of God was announced. The way had been prepared; the prophecy of IS 40: 3-5 was beginning to be fulfilled. Meditate on its words. “A voice cries out, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God! Fill every valley; level every mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be made smooth. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind will see it. The Lord Himself has promised this.’ “ [See also MAL 3: 1 and MT 3: 1].
Those of John’s listeners who took this leap of faith and recognized Christ’s deity were not enough in numbers to prevent the suffering and eventual sacrifice of His physical life. The clash between good and evil that had been prophesied as far back as GN 3: 15 was to take on huge proportions in the events leading up to the crucifixion and Christ’s resurrection. GN 3: 15, [the Lord speaking to the serpent] “I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her heel.” The only comfort we could take in that was that while biting one’s heel causes great pain, having one’s head crushed meant the end of his existence altogether. Man would suffer great pain from his sins, but eventually Satan and his followers would be cast into the lake of fire and sulfur. In other words, people who recognized Christ’s atonement gave them a way out from under the consequences of their sins and came to faith in Him, would not have to suffer the fate of the lost-second or spiritual death.
When we think of what Christ means to us in these terms, perhaps you can understand the frustration I feel concerning all those traditional Jews and people of other non-Christian faiths who deny who their Messiah actually is. When I said that this message was real and personal to me I wasn’t kidding. We should all ask ourselves how real and personal is this message to us as individuals and as members of congregations. Many of the citations I will share in the next few days will be from the OT. They stand as reminders to me that the traditional Jews have been told who their Messiah actually is. This is not a new message to them, particularly those who have lived during and after Christ’s incarnation. While we have been told in places like ZECH 13: 7-9 and RO 11: 25 that a remnant of one third of them will survive, it is a great tragedy that the other two-thirds will perish. Since we don’t know which of these traditional Jews have been chosen to survive, it behooves us to pray for each one that he will be in that “remnant.” The same prayer should be offered for all those of other non-Christian faiths in the hopes that as many of them as possible will come to salvation through faith in Christ. JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There simply is no other way to eternal life, except through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
PRAYER: O Lord, we approach You in humility confessing our sins and understanding that faithful obedience to Christ is our only way to salvation. We ask You to use the faith we have to bring as many of those who have not yet come to this understanding closer to You. We understand that Your love for mankind is so great that You want to bring as many to faith as will come. Help us to set an example by the strength of our faith and how we live it out, so that others can be brought to experience first-hand the love You have for believers. Thank you for the opportunity to be instruments You can use to do that. You deserve our praise and adoration for the opportunities we have to come closer to You and bring others with us. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue looking at the Scriptural messages found in Handel’s “Messiah” in an effort to better appreciate them and their impact on our individual lives. God has blessed us all by sending His Son to us. This gift is worth mentioning over and over again, so that we never forget how loved we really are. Be encouraged in your faith today that you have been invited into a relationship with Christ that is real and personal. God loves you, and so do Peter and I.
Grace, Peace, and Love Coming Your Way,
Lynn