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See, What You Do Is …

“Mom, I am playing with that brown boy – he’s nice.”

So said our son one warm summer morning. He had just come off the playground at Rosedale Park just outside Baltimore.

“Yes, he is. Have fun!” she told him, and so played out another scene in the process of training up a child in the way that he should go.

Our sons were 4 and 5, our daughter 2 or 3, probably, at that time. They were brought often to this place to have fun. Mom had to get them out of doors, and other moms and dads did the same.

There would be other playgrounds and beaches, pools and fields, gyms and sidewalks. At all of them, our kids made friends.

They discovered the blessing of association, the intimacy of friendship. They learned about others and enjoyed them. It wasn’t hard work to let them learn. They played mostly, argued sometimes, even got mad every now and then, but we always went back to the playgrounds and fields and pools and gyms. The others came back, too. And they all grew up as kids are known to do.

Normal, Healthy, Together

Through the years, there were hundreds of little moments like this. It wasn’t as if we determined to do this. We didn’t craft a strategy or embrace some goal of raising good friends and neighbors. We just lived – and still live — in Baltimore, right in the City in fact, and this was the way it was – normal, healthy, different children had fun. Together.

As a result, these children grew up to be men and women of heart and faith and truth.

Today, they grieve with those who grieve. It hurts them to watch things that ought not to be.

They pray. They wonder.

They cry. They stand.

They watch. They lead.

They hope.

And because they hope, I hope.

This World, This Generation

I have to say they know things that I never knew. This is not their father’s world. It’s their world. And I am welcome to enjoy this world, as long as I am willing and available to learn what they can show me.

Mostly, they show me what they learned from their mother. “Do not forsake your mother’s teaching” says Proverbs 1:8 and these kids followed this.

“See, what you do is …” is how she prefaced her important lessons on all manner of things.

They discovered that all things are of God. And that all things are for our sake. And that all things work together for good because of Him and His purposes.

These truths guided them. They lived in other countries. On many occasions, they wound up in groups where they were the different ones — the few even — in classrooms, on basketball teams, in marching bands, on stages, and at parties. And they took no thought of this at all. They found that they fit. They felt at home, with friends, with family.

They played. They laughed. They lived. They fell in love, really.

“See, what you do is …”All along the way I think they heard their mother saying this. I know that they still hear her.

“See, what you do is …”

Believe the best.

About everyone.

Love unconditionally.

Everyone.

And have fun.

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The Psalm of Psalms — Beth

This is the second entry in this series on Psalm 119, which will examine each of this psalm’s stanzas. Every set of eight verses in this acrostic writing is tied to a particular letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

BETH

            “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

            “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

            “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

            “Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

            “With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

            “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

            “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

            “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word” (Psalm 119:9-16)

            Two monumental questions often pop up in the minds of Christians. No. 1:  How do I get right with God? No. 2:  How do I stay right with God? The psalmist gives us answers to those questions within the first three verses he has written here. Not surprisingly, both answers center on our relation to the Word of God.

            First, the writer addresses the matter of cleansing. Let’s face the fact; sin is a reality for human beings. As the psalmist will tell us further along, our souls cleave to the dust. The natural flesh craves satisfaction. We stray, and we pay. Consequences result when our choices are wrong. Therefore, God provides the way for washing. The Hebrew verb structure reveals “cleansing” as a constant need for the believer, and the expectation is that this will happen again and again. Another idea expressed here is that instances of “cleansing” vary in extension because failures are different.

            His “Word” answers our sin. The Hebrew text indicates that “word” refers to a principle uttered, and this highlights our need to hear preaching. Although it has been discounted by some, preaching remains a primary commodity in God’s economy. Bible preaching fixes people. Those who would be cleansed must hear something from the Lord, and He still speaks through pulpits. Powerful messages from men of God should be taken to heart.

            The “way” theme begun in verse 9 continues in verse 10 where the writer appeals for help from God. With the understanding that his heart has been made whole, the psalmist offers a prayer for discernment. Detours present themselves in our lives. The temptation to wander weighs on us sometimes, and we must ask the Spirit to empower us in Truth. With lives of worship, our hearts draw nearer and nearer to Him.

            The answer to question No. 2 – How do I stay right with God – comes in verse 11.  The hiding of the Word of God in the heart fortifies it for the temptations faced. In Luke 9, Jesus told the disciples to let His sayings sink deep. Those men and women were soon to face challenges to their faith as members of the early church and Christ wanted them to understand just what it would take for them to stand strong. Treasure what God teaches you. Store up the truth and allow the Spirit to develop resources for obedience within your heart.

            Knowing God’s Word keeps us from going against Him. Our sin is against God and against God alone, as David made clear with his deep cry of repentance in Psalm 51: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psalm 51:4a). Yes, our wrongs do wrong people. We hurt others, and we have to make apologies and sometimes restitution. Ultimately, however, our sin strikes at God. It quenches the relationship He desires to have with us by creating distance that does not have to be there. We forfeit moments of joy and fellowship and it is all so unnecessary because He has given all that we need to stay right with Him.

            What we read next is praise for God and a cry for instruction. Can you see the real beginnings of wisdom? The fear of the Lord starts to come through in the psalmist’s words. “Blessed” represents an expression of awe and it is as if he is on his knees as he pens these things. Boldly standing before the throne of grace with a “whole heart,” the writer imperatively expresses himself. “Teach me” he commands the Lord, and it is a definite, specific command. It is a command in the mood of Isaiah 45:11:

“Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.”

            Knowing just what we need to be kept from sinning, we may ask God to provide that essential, personal communication for our lives. “Speak specifically, Lord, for You alone know me and You love me and You will love me until the end.” We may pray prayers such as this and believe He will answer. May we never hesitate to go right to our Source. Truth tells us to do this and to do it often.

            After this big request, the writer spends the next four verses boasting to God about himself. And why should he not boast? He is in the presence of his dearest and closest Friend. Avoid the temptation to question the measure of humility expressed in these words. This One who knows us best is never offended. He is faithful and just to forgive and He is faithful and just to show us when and where we are off. Dare to speak boldly before the Lord and leave the correction to Him.

            Pay attention to how the psalmist spreads out the aspects of his life before the Lord. He presents to God the record of his words, his joys, his considerations, his perspectives, his focus, and his memories.

            “I have not been quiet about Your works, Lord,” the writer expresses in verse 13. What he heard from God, the psalmist declared. He relays the communications exactly, accurately, and constantly. The whole counsel of God comes out of this man. He reveals “all the judgments,” all of the Lord’s processes and decisions are being put out there. He understands that where there is no vision the people perish, according to Proverbs 29:18. “Vision” makes reference to the open proclamation of truth. Without the declaration of doctrine, people die. In reading Proverbs, we see wisdom personified in many passages. She cries out to the simple, to the undiscerning. Her words, she confidently declares, are life.

            In verse 14, the writer tells the Lord to recognize the gladness with which he walks in the way. He treasures the testimonies, and he stores them in his heart. Better than all riches are the records of God’s works. Real wealth belongs to those who cherish these evidences and we see it in their smiles and laughter and joy. We also see this in their quiet persistence when things are seemingly falling apart all around them.

            Bible precepts and Bible pathways form the essence of meditation for the writer. Hearing the Word creates lines of thinking in our memory center, and these lines become easier and easier to follow. This capacity is developed with careful thought. Musing should be a primary pattern in our lives as it was in the lives of great believers such as Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon, Murray, Tozer, and Graham. These men set aside time to ponder the Scriptures, to pray, and to consider the ways of God.

            Amid today’s frenetic culture, too many believers take in heaps of amusement. We can be so quick to enter into exercises that distract us from deep thinking. The sad results are these:  fragile faith and worldly perspective. The apostle Paul instructs us to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (see Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16). Our minds should be filled with verses and choruses and passages, so that the eyes of our hearts open toward His ways.

            Do you have a complaint? Bring it before God, which is what David says to do in Psalm 142:  “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble” (verse 2). “To complain” is one of the meanings for the Hebrew word translated as “meditate” in this psalm. The Bible does speak against murmuring and misspeaking. People tend to talk too much and such talking brings big troubles and much confusion. However, in making our complaints known to God, we are really taking our problems to the only One who can solve them.

            The regard we have for the Word, for the preaching of it and for the reading of it, exposes our heart attitudes. Bible meditation conditions our focus and we grow in our attention to the things of God. The heart can learn to observe life with anointed eyes, which is the best definition of the word “delight.” The Hebrew term used in the original manuscript was drawn from the practice of smearing ointment on the eyes in order to gain clearer vision in the dry, Middle Eastern climate.

            The spiritual practices mentioned here serve us well. They keep the Word in its proper place of prominence in our minds and hearts. Roots go down deep and soul structures grow strong. Our capacities become well watered and do not wither because we are mindful of Truth. We think with God in the way that Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 32:2:  

“My doctrine shall drop as the rain; my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.”

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The Psalm of Psalms

Any discussion of Psalm 119 must begin with its structure. It is a work of 22 stanzas, each containing eight thoughts corresponding to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Readers of the original language text will find that every line in a particular stanza begins with the Hebrew letter associated with that stanza. The form served a function and helped stir the memories of those being taught these thoughts from God. It is a remarkably poetic piece exalting His Word and its power.

Poetry is language pressed into a form for the sake of function. For creative communication, poetry represents the result of much thought and hard work. Poets are devoted and disciplined communicators. Thoughts come to the poet and he has authority over those thoughts and how they are to be expressed. The poet has a will to exercise. He carries the authority to say what he wants to say in whatever way he wants to say it. The writer of Psalm 119 decided to organize his thoughts according to a certain pattern; he had that authority from God. However, authority that is exercised sets in motion responsibility and accountability. Maintaining the pattern of communication within the psalm is now the poet’s duty. He made himself accountable and responsible. The poet is responsible to stick to the form; he has accountability to it. To depart from this accountability and to fracture the pattern creates confusion for any reader.

            The poet of Psalm 119 took on a great responsibility. He carefully crafted the words God gave him into an inspired order. He was not sloppy, nor was he deterred. He stuck to his pattern and as a result we have 176 verses suitable for our edification and equipping. Just the writer’s accountability to the form provides for us a good study of an attribution of the character of God. The Lord is immutable; He changes not. And the writer of Psalm 119 changed not his mode of communication.

Psalm 119 provides a glorious celebration of the Word of God. In these verses, we ride a momentum of inspiration. Thought builds upon thought. We sense the writer’s passion for truth. His – and our – necessity also is among the revelations here. The phrases stir in us the hunger for God’s personal, specific, and timely communication in the way that they must have stirred the poet. Something rich and fulfilling is here for us if we will allow the Holy Spirit to open the words to us.

This is the first entry in this series, which will examine each of this psalm’s stanzas.

ALEPH

            “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

            “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

            “They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

            “Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

            “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

            “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

            “I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

            “I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly” (verses 1-8)

            The writer gets right to his point in the opening part of this psalm. His theme is the Word of God, and only five of the 176 verses written here are without some reference to God’s Truth. For starters, he presents us with six words – law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, and judgments. These words provide insight into the varied and specific ways God speaks to us as believers.

            “Law” makes reference to the Torah, the five books of Moses, which are considered the authoritative body of teaching for Israel and for its direction as a nation. This collection of truths is to be believed, cherished, and heeded.

            “Testimonies” represent witnesses or evidences of God’s real work in creation and in particular, on earth. These were classified as things observed such as the sea opening for Israel and then swallowing Egypt’s soldiers and chariots.

            “Precepts” are foundational premises. Such communications come to us before we need them. We receive these instructions during seasons of preparation in our lives. In driving classes, our teachers told us many things and we also read about the rules of the road. Then, we were put behind the steering wheel and asked to practice what we had learned. We turned the key and began putting precepts into practice as we moved into traffic.

            “Statutes” carry a different meaning. They are instructions that are highly personal. The Hebrew phrasing explains that statutes are prescriptive; that is, as with a medical prescription, these words deal with something close to us. Each of us develops convictions through hearing and reading the Word of God. God inscribes right words into our hearts and we build content for character.

            “Commandments” form the code of conduct for our relationships with God and with others. These primarily relate to the covenants the Lord established with His people. The picture is of a superior giving a verbal communication to a subordinate. God’s commands are unique. They require an inner commitment, not mere superficial obedience.

            “Judgments” represents a category of truth related to God’s decrees. A forensic, judicial element is implied. God told Adam that the wages of sin would be death. The first man was given one regulation and he did not keep it. The Lord made the decree. God meant what He said. The forensic evidence of Adam and Eve’s violation provoked the consequence of death. Something innocent had to die to pay the penalty required according to righteousness. In the Old Testament, innocent animals were offered and their shed blood spoke in answer to the sinner’s debt. Once and for all, judgment was accomplished at Calvary when the perfect man, Jesus Christ, became sin for us.

            The Cross represents the finished work of judgment. Jesus paid the debt He did not owe for us who owed debts we could never pay. This thought comes through right here in verse 1 of Psalm 119: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.” This sentence could be worded this way:  Straight are those who are made complete, whole, and entire in accord with the truth they hold and the path that they have been placed into.

            In the same way that Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount, the writer of Psalm 119 defines the “blessed” in his opening sentences. With these two statements, the psalmist addresses the two aspects of sanctification – the permanent, positional and the present, experiential. Verse 1 declares that ‘blessed” or “straight” are those who are undefiled – made complete in accord with truth and fact. The finished work fact of Christ’s death at Calvary makes us complete and therefore undefiled, for He has imputed to us His righteousness. God robes us with righteousness because Justice has been fully satisfied; the sin penalty of humanity was fully paid in the offering of the Lamb of God. He “puts” His righteousness on us once and for all. We became hid with Christ in God at the moment of our salvation. Daily, however, the Lord “imparts” His righteousness to us. He gives us power to live moment by moment as we receive the filling of His Holy Spirit. His power is “parted” to us as we choose to rely on Him and His leading in Spirit and in Truth.

            According to Psalm119:2, a right walk with God involves keeping His testimonies and seeking Him with a whole heart. The instruction here is to guard the memories of things God does. Hold those things close, allow them to provide counsel, see them as precious. The Hebrew verb for “seek” implies that believers should possess a continuous element of pursuit for the face of God. “Resort” might be the best word to think of here. This word carries with it the idea of going somewhere with a restful purpose. Those who rest in Christ accomplish things without striving.

            Rest diminishes my predilection to live for self in the efforts of the flesh. Iniquity’s power is short-circuited somewhat. That nature to sin is still with me and always shall be. However, my heart is whole. Its needs are being met as I hold to the Word and walk in God’s ways.

            The forceful language of verses 4 and 5 include two instances of “keep” — shamar in the Hebrew. This word was used to describe hedging a garden with thorns in order to protect the planting from wild foragers. What are we to hedge? The precepts and statutes God communicates to us.

            Think of the word shamar and picture Christ upon the Cross with His crown of thorns. Terrible beatings staggered Jesus, and He was weak from the bleeding that began during His prayers in Gethsemane. Even the Roman soldiers comprehended this and so they pressed Simon the Cyrenian to help Christ get His Cross up the hill of Golgotha. Yet, on the Cross, Christ spoke from Psalm 22. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” and His other sayings indicate His connection with the Word during these dark hours. To accomplish the final details contained in the redemptive plan, Jesus guarded His mind. The painful, thorny crown crammed on his brow demonstrates how He hedged His own thinking. Truth was His frame of reference, and the Scriptures governed His thoughts while His human emotions sensed the abandonment of the Father and the Spirit. As the Son was made all sin for all men, the Face of Absolute Holiness had to turn away and allow judgment to be rendered fully and finally before the crowd on earth and to an unseen atmosphere crowded with angelic and demonic witnesses. The Word made flesh exercised faith in the eternal Word He was and is.

            This method of thinking preserves us from being ashamed. Shame is not necessarily a bad thing, for it is something we should sense in our hearts when we have done wrong. Ashamedness develops when we allow this sense of failure to fester and deepen, leaving us with thought patterns that are confused, confounded, and disappointed. Our mind becomes surrounded with poor emotions that lie and tell us we are alone, that we have no foundation, and that we have no place in God’s plan.

            The answer for such troubles is to respect the Word of God. See what Truth has to say about failure and then put those instructions into practice. 1 John reveals that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins. Even when our natural heart whispers condemnation, God declares that He is greater than our hearts. Shame goads us; it pricks the heart, but only so that the heart shall hasten its way to the Throne of Grace for confession and restoration. May we look rightly and view properly all of the Lord’s commandments. His revealed wisdom guides us, and the divine code of conduct brings light to the darkness of our doubts and fears.

            “Learned” in verse 7 is a word derived from goad. The infinitive form of the verb implies that the goading of God in our lives is unceasing; that is, we are always learning more and also learning things all over again. This process brings understanding to us as we perceive the perfection of all His ways. Our praise then becomes straight, which is the meaning of uprightness. We worship the Lord for who He is, and selfish motives wither in the Light.

            The Aleph stanza concludes with a seeming paradox. The psalmist’s determination to guard the statutes of God collides with a plea for divine perseverance; his commitment to keep the Word is followed by a cry for help. Because “diligently” (verse 4) and “utterly” (verse 8) are the same adverb in the Hebrew text, a connection becomes clear that zealousness for God’s precepts and statutes requires the steady sense of His presence.

            At the start of this stanza, the psalmist recognizes the objective reality of his blessedness in the finished work of Christ. With his close, he prays his soul be kept and his emotions comforted in Omnipotence and he casts himself upon the Cornerstone. There is a great lesson here:  “Even when we possess a good measure of truth, the fear of the Lord remains the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7).

            Let us hold fast to our reverence of Him.

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Speak for Yourself

“You are permitted to speak for yourself.”

Paul was standing before Roman rulers – Agrippa and Festus — and a group of assembled dignitaries and officials of Caesarea. He stood chained, accused, and innocent of any crime against the Empire. And, yet, he remained in custody.

It was his life as a Christian that put him there. His work as a witness sparked revivals and riots in the cities where he labored as a preacher and teacher of the Word and revelation of God given to him.

A capable and ambitious Pharisee, Paul once opposed the way of the Christian. He hunted down and did much violence to the pockets of Jesus followers in and around the region of Judea.

He sought to expand his persecution program by taking it on the road. En route to Damascus, Paul, then known as Saul, encountered Jesus Himself.

The Lord shined His Light from Heaven and the vision threw Paul off his high horse. He was left blinded and with his face in the dirt – even his fellow travelers were driven to their knees.

Christ spoke words that only Paul could understand: “I am Jesus whom you persecute. Rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you are minister and a witness. …” (Acts 26:15-16).

And so this minister did witness. Paul, once destined to be the future star among the Jews’ rabbinic academics, became the pioneer missionary-church founder and chief theologian of the early Church. His grasp of the Hebrew Old Testament supplied him with an abundance of material.

The grace message was delivered to him in his meditation and fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Paul framed and illustrated his teaching with stories and information taken from the words of Moses, David, and the prophets. These Gospel truths were for everyone – Gentiles as well as Jews.

There, in that Roman hearing hall, Paul stood on the faith of the Son of God, who gave Himself for Paul and for all. This group was going to get quite a story, a testimony of what the Lord does with those He calls to Himself.

This was not the first time Paul had spoken for himself. Everywhere he went he spoke for himself. The Message was his – it filled his whole heart, mind, and spirit.

Resurrection and eternal life were too real to Paul for him to keep quiet about it. He had seen too much to deny the reality of the risen Christ. The power of that heavenly vision made it impossible for him to be disobedient to it.

Paul told his august audience that he was absolutely convinced of this very thing: “Christ Jesus suffered that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23).

These phrases prompted an outburst from governor Festus: “Paul, you are beside yourself – what you know has made your mad.” I think there were murmurs and snickers all about the room. The idea that the dead could come alive struck many as ludicrous. The prevailing philosophies of the era viewed bodily resurrection as a stupid and unwelcome future for the souls of men.

Paul stood firm. His words were serious words of truth. He refused to back down. He would not take back his story. “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?’ He argued.

He playfully addressed Agrippa and said, “You believe the prophets, don’t you? I know you believe.” To which Agrippa replied, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian.”

And that was precisely the point of all that Paul said. This was soul-winning message. “I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

The jailed one was, in essence, telling his jailers that he was better off than they were. Yes, he was chained, but his spirit and heart soared with liberty. He was under Roman authority, but he was truly free from the big law, the law that really matters, the law of sin and death.

The gears of the Roman justice system did grind on for Paul. His status carried him to other places where he would share this Message – in various ships, on the isle of Malta, in this Italian town and that one, and in his quarters in Rome itself. Even the imperial palace would hear this man, and some there, living in service of Nero, would listen and believe.

“I want you to be like me.” Is this how we speak our selves?

I think that it should be.

“I want you to be like me.” Have you ever thought of saying that someone? To an unbeliever?

 It is no statement of pride. It is really a statement of fact in our eyes. We believe the Scriptures, that the life that we now live we live by the faith of the Son of God.  It is the reality of the regeneration and righteousness given to us by the Son.

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A Thief, Stolen By Mercy

With Jesus of Nazareth at Calvary, there hung two thieves.

One thief somehow came to understand that the cross was where he belonged. His life spent steeped in crime meant that he had often found himself entangled in the Roman justice system. The logical outcome of his series of decisions and actions was Golgotha, the place of the skull, the final destination of all who habitually ran afoul of the occupying authorities in Judea.

He hung there upon the nails. His body quivered, pains shooting up his legs and down his arms. Surely, he thought upon the process of death. He’d seen more than a few crucifixions. It was cruel and not so unusual punishment in those times.

Set about cities and towns like scarecrows positioned in corn fields, the death trees, when occupied, delivered a message about just who was in charge. Defy Rome and one could expect to suffer this consequence.

And it had come to this for these thieves, these partners in mischief. They had apparently attempted to steal from the wrong person at the wrong time. Things must have become noisy and ugly in a hurry. In the commotion, soldiers likely showed up just as they left their mark dead.

Petty criminals no more, the thieves got the book thrown at them. Death sentences were ordered in no time. The beams were set upon them and they were paraded through the Via Dolorosa with notices describing their crimes pinned near their heads.

Mob Scene

This was no ordinary day at the place of the skull. The throng of onlookers, bigger and more agitated than normal, kept heaping insults upon the Man in the middle, hanging between these two. He came to Golgotha last and it was a wonder that He was still moving. His face was indistinguishable, bloodied and bloated from punches. His body oozed red like a river. Patches of spittle hung upon Him. His charging placard bore the words, “This is the King of the Jews,” and hung above the crude, thick, thorny crown that had been jammed upon His brow.

Shouts and jeers poured forth from the mob. Those among the group of Temple men, all robed up for their duties related to the Passover festival, took turns making demands of Him. They wanted Him to come down and prove Himself and show everyone His power. The thieves, perhaps a bit drugged with gall, chided Him, too.

Jesus answered none of the taunts cast at Him. He sought no mercy from His accusers. This One didn’t belong there. The one thief began to sense this. He had been with his kind long enough to know that this Man wasn’t one of them. But there He was dying among them.

Somewhere in the midst of the mess of what was His face, there proved to be a mouth. The Voice, labored and choked with tears, sweat, and blood, was still surprisingly easy to understand. The tone His words carried was one of sorrow and grief. He spoke as One who expected to be heard and answered.

Love for Enemies

“Father, forgive them! For they know not what they do!”

Forgiveness? This was what was on this One’s mind. He who had received no mercy put out a call for mercy for those who had been so unmerciful to Him.

Who speaks such a sentence? Only potentates do. “Forgive” – only kings can make such pronouncements, and generally they only do so when they might gain something from the exchange.

The Man possessed a dignity; even His naked, pummeled form projected a call to honor. His request carried an authority in the midst of the mayhem at His feet. Command, that’s the word. This King remained in command. He seemed as One on a mission. Pain, He refused to let it control Him. Instead, He uttered words of love even for the enemies who had had their way with Him.

“Are You not the Anointed One?” came a sneer from the other miscreant on his cross. “Are You really the Messiah? Prove it to us all. Do something, You King. Get us all down from here.”

Jesus said nothing. He turned His head and looked toward the other criminal.

A darkness began to descend, even as noontime approached. It was as if the sun sought to hide, refusing to let its light fall upon such a scene. It had to be because of Him. His innocence rested upon Him, and nature had to take note. Blood does tell the real story. The Maker of all had to be listening to what His Blood said.

His arms hung open wide. His heart beat hard and fast within His chest. That heart with those arms appeared to extend a welcome. They appeared ready to receive something or someone. Many followed Him when He fed them bread and opened blind eyes. Few, however, were there with Him in that moment.

Proclamation of Grace

“Father, forgive …” This was what He had said. Did He really expect someone to come to Him even at this place of doom, even at this spot so near to death itself, could He cause a dead heart to come alive?

“Quiet now,” spoke the thief to his angry partner. “Can you show no honor? He has no place here. We belong here. These crosses were made for ones like us, but not for One like Him.”

Resignation and humility now hung upon this thief. The words of Jesus had touched him somehow. He threw himself on the mercy of the King on the Cross.

“Lord, remember me when You enter into Your Kingdom.”

The King welcomed him at once. He issued a proclamation of grace and mercy. He readily forgave one who knew not what he did. A true gift was given with precious and valuable words, eternal words, words from God.

“Today, you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

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Answers for Discontentment

We can be people of very short memory. We forget and ignore what the Lord has done for us. Consider the people of Israel and how quickly they lost sight of how God worked for them.

For 400 years plus, the descendants of Jacob lived as strangers in a land ruled by a people who feared and despised them.

What was it that made Egypt suspicious and envious of the Israelites? That’s simple:  these people were fruitful and multiplied a lot. They were the ones who followed the mission God had given to humanity when He fashioned Adam from dust and made this man alive with His breath.

Israel’s numbers made Pharaoh anxious for he knew nothing of Joseph, the son of Jacob, whose wisdom from the Lord once preserved the empire in days of fierce famine. Rather than appreciate the presence of God’s people within his borders, this ruler strategized to keep them in place.

One of Pharaoh’s first measures was a program of harsh labor. Work Israel hard. Wear the people out. Perhaps, they will become too tired to reproduce. The sons of Jacob were forced to make bricks and build cities for the Egyptians.

This empire and its citizens were used to having other peoples do the difficult and tedious tasks related to life. Luxury and idolatries reigned in their cities and towns. Pharaoh figured he and his subjects could sit back and watch Israel’s people work themselves to death.

He was wrong. The more the Israelites were worked, the more was added to their numbers.

Death Sentences

These developments pushed Pharaoh to implement more diabolical measures of population control. Israel’s Midwives were called before the ruler and ordered to let all male babies die. These midwives trusted God rather than this king. They were rewarded for their faithfulness to God’s people and given households with children of their own.

Egypt ramped up the pressure. The order went out that all boy babies were to be tossed into the Nile, where they would drown or be eaten by crocodiles.

Moses did wind up in the Nile, but his parents set him there in a waterproofed basket. Found by Pharaoh’s daughter, the son of a slave made his home in the palace. This boy, taken out of the river, grew up aware of his ties to Israel. And those ties were strong. He slew a slave supervisor for beating one of his “brothers.” As a result, he was driven from Egypt to the desert reaches of Midian. He spent 40 years there, took a wife and became a father. He was out of sight and out of mind.

That is, until the people of Israel prayed. God then chose to answer the cries of His chosen ones by first visiting Moses at the burning bush. He called Moses to service in the deliverance of Israel.

Moses confronted Pharaoh in the name of Yahweh. The empire wilted under a series of plagues, judgments sent from Heaven. The ultimate one left every Egyptian’s firstborn dead.

The people of Israel were shown the way of escape from the death angel. They were to slay a lamb and place the blood around their doors. Inside, under the sign of the blood, they were safe. They ate. They sang. They waited.

The next morning, Israel’s hundreds and thousands were driven from Egypt by order of Pharaoh. God’s plagues had done their work and more. Gold, silver and myriads of precious jewels and clothes were heaped upon these slaves set free. The bound became bedazzled.

Where were they going? They really didn’t know. Moses led them and God revealed His presence in the form of a cloud that glowed with fire by night.

The Sea Opens … and Closes

It wasn’t a clean and easy getaway, however. The Egyptians missed the servants who performed so ably for them. Once they learned that the Israelites’ freedom march had stalled at the Red Sea, Pharaoh sent his chariots and soldiers to reclaim the slaves.

God opened the sea and Israel crossed on dry ground. He then closed the waters and swamped the Egyptians, sinking the chariots and washing the bodies of their drivers up on the shore for Israel.

Again, the chosen ones of Jacob escaped certain death. Again, they sang, shook their tambourines and began their journey across the wilderness. A land of promise, one that flowed with milk and honey awaited them. They just had to get moving.

How hard could that have been for them given what they had witnessed? They tasted and saw the goodness and favor of the Lord. Their oppressors were no more. Their chains had been broken. They were laden with spoil they did not have to fight for. Who could ask for more?

The Israelites, that’s who.

They weren’t but a few miles from the sea when they presented their first grievance against their new status as freed people. Water was lacking and they wondered where it would come from. Never mind that God had just performed a remarkable and triumphant feat involving the waters of the Red Sea. They pined for life back in Egypt.

Grumbles and Grace

Once slaves in body, the Israelites were now slaves in spirit. Their unbelief and mistrust mushroomed as the days in the wilderness wore on. Soon they bowed, danced, and played before an idol, a golden calf that they honored as their deliverer. What made things worse was that this calf was made by Aaron, brother to Moses and the closest observer of all that God did through him for Israel.

Reaching the place of promise would be no easy road, especially for the faithful followers of the Lord such as Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. These men did all that they could to help Israel’s unbelief. But the complaints kept coming.

Their leader Moses grew weary of the dishonor on display around him. It left him so weak at one point that he himself ignored the word of the Lord when he hammered his staff upon the rock that gave water for the people who were thirsty again. He had been told to speak to the rock, not beat it.

Result: Moses, the one who had seen the glory of the Lord, would not be permitted to lead Israel into her land.

God is the Faithful and True Lord of All. We do live in a fallen and fractured world. Things do go wrong in our relationships, in our occupations, in our very bodies. We find ourselves with few friends and few cents. We do cry out as David did in Psalm 13: “How long shall You forget me, Lord? Forever? How long shall You hide Your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).

Seasons of discontent are very real. I don’t want to diminish them and make light of the real pain we each experience. But the answer for discontentment is content; that is, we need a filling of our hearts and minds with thanksgiving and promises and prayers.

Jonah was about as low as anyone could get – stuck in the belly of a great fish as it swam through the sea.  But there he spoke in faith the truth he knew of God:  “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to You; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9).  Soon Jonah was delivered.

Talk to the Lord. Tell Him all about things. There’s a place of Promise waiting for us. It’s being prepared by Jesus Himself (see John 14:2).

Our battles belong to the Lord. Trust His Word. Open the Book. Consider its chapters and verses. Let us furnish the rooms of our souls with the truth of who He is and what He is doing.

Christ brought us out of the bondage of sin and into liberty of His grace.

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Communion and the Bread of Life

The feast of communion is to be a meal scented by fragrances of memory. Jesus took the bread at the Last Supper and presented it as His Body. True to His teaching method, the Savior fashioned a metaphor to drive home the message of His life.

He came to earth. His life was altogether a preparation for the offering of Himself, His death as the Lamb of God. In Leviticus and Numbers, in the Law given to Moses, we read of meal offerings or fine flour offerings that were incorporated into the patterns of worship for the people of God.

Jesus, though totally God in essence, was born as an infant to Mary. He matured in body, mind, and emotion as a human being. Luke 2 describes Jesus at 12 years of age finding His way to the Temple during Passover. Of this excursion, He said nothing to His “parents.” When He was discovered, a frantic Mary spoke as only an agitated mother could – “Son, why have you treated us so?”

His answer — “I must be about my Father’s business” — seems like a typical adolescent response. We could read it as Jesus saying, “What’s the big deal?” However, the next part of the story tells us that Jesus did go home and subjected Himself to Mary and Joseph in their home at Nazareth.

This subjection, this exercise of humility, was part of the Father’s business in the work of redemption.  As God the Son, Jesus participated in the Creation – Hebrews 1 defines this well for us. In taking on flesh and bone, Jesus occupied a jar of clay.  Now deity inhabited dust, but in the process, His life had to play out according to the rules of this planet and its cosmos. We could say that Jesus allowed Himself to be governed by the very people He had made.

I see the days of Jesus as a toddler, a youth, a teenager, and a young adult, as times of sifting, of readying His humanity for His ministry. Flour left un-sifted can grow lumpy and sometimes wormy. Looking again to the letter to the Hebrews, we read that Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered (see Hebrews 5:7-9).

Fulfillment of All Righteousness

When it was time, Jesus brought the fine flour of His life to the River Jordan. There, His cousin and forerunner, John the Baptist preached repentance and bid the people to confess and be made clean in the act of baptism, by getting washed in the river.

John and has family were of the line of Temple servants, as we read in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. John’s father, Zacharias, was at the incense altar when the angel Gabriel appeared to tell him that the Baptist would be born to him and Elizabeth, two aged believers who had always prayed for a son.

Jesus’ approach and submission to John was necessary to fulfill all righteousness. John recognized his place under the authority of the Son and asked that he be baptized by Jesus. This authority the Son confirmed as a truth, but the Law had to be fulfilled in every detail. Jesus had to wash in order to enter into His priesthood, a priesthood of a heavenly order (see Leviticus 8:6).

And so John did as he was instructed. He put Jesus under the water and when Jesus came up, the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form and rested upon Him. This marked a transition in the ministry of the Christ in His way as the Bread of Life.

Anointed for Service

In our Bibles, oil is often used to represent the touch and effect of the Holy Spirit in our lives (see 2 Corinthians 1:21 and 1 John 2:27). The Spirit revealed Himself as He rested upon the Son; in other words, fresh oil was added to the fine flour of Jesus’ life.

After this anointing, Jesus would enter the oven of His public ministry. He had quietly lived out His days in the house of the Nazarene carpenter. From this point on, Christ would be out in the open. He would teach and heal and deliver and feed. His life demonstrated the power of Heaven over disease, demons, and death. He would also face trial and test.

At once, Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness with all of its heat and arid conditions. This is where He would endure a ferocious, 40-day encounter with the devil. And what was one of the things Satan tempted Jesus to do? Turn a stone into bread.

Fast food — that’s what the devil wanted Jesus to produce. Hell is all about haste. The other temptations, as reported in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, were designed to entice the Son of Man to accelerate His work on earth. He wanted to push Jesus beyond the speed limit related to His ministry.

“Throw Yourself from the pinnacle of the Temple; the angels will catch you,” Satan challenged Him. Such a publicity stunt would astound the people and give Jesus an instant platform. The devil also paraded before Him the glitter and worldly splendor of the cities of this world – places under his control as the prince of the power of the air. “Bow to me,” Satan told the Son, “and all of these cities shall be Yours at once.”

Jesus remained true to the Word of God and refused these offers. The work He came to do, He finished. All was done according the pace dictated by the Father and the Spirit. The Son did all that the Father willed in God’s perfect timing.

He proclaimed Himself as the Bread of Life, the true food from Heaven. The Word made flesh was tried in the furnace of human existence (see Psalm 12:6). He avoided none of the fires that were sent to bake Him into the perfect loaf to be broken that Good Friday.

Resurrected and Whole

See the Apostles at the table. Imagine them as they took the fragments of bread and swallowed them. The next day they would watch as Jesus was swallowed by the hatred of the mob and sent to the Cross. Once dead, His body went into the belly of the earth, into a tomb sealed shut with a huge stone.

But on the third morning, Jesus came out alive. The glorified risen Lord stood before His followers, the whole Bread of Life never to be broken again.

“Do this in remembrance,” Jesus said. Consider His life. Contemplate His death. Celebrate the reality of Him risen. And look ahead to the feast to come, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, to the moment we shall all sit at the eternal table of grace.

Oh, what Bread we shall see and taste on that day!

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Esther and the Hidden Hand of God

Esther found herself on the inside, a girl of beauty dropped into the midst of a political storm. Her parents dead, she had become the ward of her uncle Mordecai. She and her uncle were Jews living in the Medo-Persian empire, a massive conglomeration of 127 territories that stretched from India to Ethiopia.

And she became queen. Not through guile or cunning or seduction like some Jezebel wannabe did Esther come to the palace at Susa, the Persian capital. She really floated to her place.

She got there by just being herself.

Vashti occupied the queen’s office until a months’ long party went awry. Thrown by her husband and her, the celebration and feasting included way too much wine and such drinking led to some unintended consequences. Feeling exceptionally merry, King Ahaserus one day got the wild notion that all should see the queen as only he had seen her. He summoned Vashti to parade herself before the men of his court wearing only her crown.

She refused — and she was right to. But the times being what they were, Vashti’s stand proved costly. She was deposed by the aggrieved and embarrassed king. He had lost face, and he and his counselors legislated Vashti away with a pronouncement that men rule in the palace and in all homes.

The king sobered up, however, and grew lonely, even wondering whether he would ever have another woman like Vashti by his side. Persian law, however, made it absolutely illegal for him to restore his now ex-wife.

Oh, how a man’s foolish and inebriated decisions come to haunt him. A moody king is friend to none and makes for a lousy and dangerous ruler. The members of the royal court, thus, devised a way to keep Ahaserus entertained and to fill the queen’s seat.

A pageant was proposed, imagine an ancient version of TV’s “The Bachelor.” (God bless you if you cannot imagine such a thing because you’ve never seen the show.) The loveliest ladies of the empire’s lands were summoned to Susa. They enjoyed months of spa treatments— baths, oils, perfumes lavished upon them.

Once glamorized and outfitted, each beauty then had her date with his royal highness. The name of the game was Please the King. The grand prize? The queen’s place in the palace of Persia.

Uncle Mordecai smelled an opportunity and entered his young niece in the queen sweepstakes. And that’s how Esther came to be on the inside. Once she was there, the girl’s grace and humility won over those in charge of the affair.

Esther sought for and accepted advice — gladly. Given the adversarial and stubborn way of Vashti, this quality put Esther in good standing with those seeking the right partner for the king.

Her manner captured Ahasuerus’ heart, too. He chose Esther to be his queen. This simple Jewish orphan girl now was bride to the most powerful ruler of his day.

It was not long before Esther made a major difference in Persian politics. A plot to kill the king was discovered by Mordecai, who sent word to his niece the queen. Esther exposed the scheme to Ahaseurus. The traitors were caught and executed, and the whole affair documented in the palace chronicles. That documentation would prove to be a significant element to this story and to the preservation of the Jewish people.

For also on the inside now was a devil, Haman, an enemy with ambition and hatred for the Jews. As an Agagite, he should have been long gone. He was there only because one of Esther’s ancestors disobeyed the command of God. The Lord instructed King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites, whose king was Agag. Nothing and no one was to be spared. Saul and his warriors kept the good people alive and good stuff for themselves to, ahem, make an offering.  

Hundreds of years later, here’s an Agagite alive and conspiring. Mordecai and Esther’s intervention in the assassination plot may even have opened a position for Haman’s promotion. There’s truth and consequences for avoiding the truth. Saul’s leadership fail set his own people up for annihilation.

The palace of Persia became a war zone. It became a battlefield on a supremely spiritual level.

Haman possessed wealth and power was according honor from nearly everyone. Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and guardian, was the exception in the Susa court. He feared God alone and refused to offer homage to this political appointee.

Haman, in anger, crafted a political solution; he devised a law and got the king to sign off on it. It was carefully worded for approval. To top it off, Haman pledged loads of his own silver to fund its implementation. The law targeted the realm’s Jews for execution. These people were different in their ways of worship and the kingdom would be strengthened by subtracting them was the whole thing was advertised to the king. Ahaserus, a ruler of presumptuous decisions (see the Vashti affair), hastily agreed with his counselor.

Haman had to set the date for this destruction. So sure of success Haman made a game out of this part of his plot. He determined the execution date by casting the pur or the lots. Pebbles or sticks were tossed to settle the issue. I can almost hear Haman cackle with his cronies as the the date comes up — the 13th day of the month of Adar. This was some 12 months away.

Word of the law went out and once Mordecai learned of it he tore his clothes, began to wail, and took on sackcloth at the palace gates. Esther got news of her uncle’s demonstration. Her first reaction was this: she sent him some clothes. He responded with a copy of Haman’s decree and a plea for her to do something about it.

“Go to the king and beg his favor,” Mordecai told her.

Seems like a reasonable request – Esther was queen after all. Did she not have access to the king? Yes, and no. One had to be summoned to see Ahasuerus. To come before him uninvited meant instant death, according to the strange and twisted laws of the empire. There was one hope, however. The king could choose to extend his golden scepter in mercy and thereby receive the one who came unannounced.

Doubt shadowed the young queen’s mind and heart. It’d been a month since Ahasuerus asked for her Esther related to Mordecai.

Here, Esther’s uncle made it clear to her that she was where she was for a reason and a purpose. He told that she could not keep silent. Her grace and good looks won her a spot near the throne, but those things would not save her. Now, however, it was “such a time” for courage and conviction, Mordecai said.

A crisis never develops character. It will, however, test hearts and expose what’s contained in them.

Esther’s heart was found to be full of truth and faith. She took the lead and called upon the Jews of her city to assemble for three days of prayers and fasting. Inside, the palace, the queen fasted along with the women assigned to her royal entourage.

She would break the law; she would go to Ahasuerus with these words in her heart and mind – “If I perish, I perish.”

Pray, fast, believe, and go with reckless abandon. This spiritual strategy proved to be a blessed one. Its success went above and beyond what any could ask or think. When Esther made herself seen, the king had favor, reached forth his scepter for her to touch, and asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”

She said she would answer the king only after he and Haman would dine at a feast she would prepare.

Esther’s plan included dinner with a devil. Jesus, too, had a devil  — Judas — at His table in the upper room. He even washed that feet of that devil.

Haman got word of Esther’s invitation and boasted to family and friends of its significance. It wasn’t enough for him. He obsessed over Mordecai and, with his wife’s help, dreamed up a way to get rid of this one Jew before he rid the kingdom of all Jews. He had a tall gallows hastily built and then ran to the palace to get the king’s approval for the execution.

Only then would Haman be able to enjoy dinner with Esther and the king.

It is at this point that we get a taste of the power of the written word. The night before Esther’s feast, King Ahasuerus couldn’t sleep and called for a bedtime story. The book of memorable deeds was read aloud to him and heard anew the story of how Mordecai exposed the plot on the king’s life. The pages included nothing of Mordecai’s reward for he had not been rewarded at all.

Then and there, the king thought to right this wrong. He tasked Haman, of all people, how to honor one who’d done something great for the kingdom. Haman, sure that he was the one the king meant to celebrate, forgot for a moment his plot to execute Mordecai and described an elaborate and elegant parade with a royal horse, royal robes, and royal crown.

Ahaseurus giggled with delight and at once commanded Haman to do all of it for “Mordecai the Jew.”  Talk about having your legs cut off from under you. What a sight this must have been: Haman leading the horse with his now crowned enemy and proclaiming, “Thus it shall be done for he whom the king delight to honor.”

And so began Haman plummet from glory. He raced home in disgrace. The gallows he ordered had been finished, but Mordecai would not swing from it. He found none comfort to him, as his wife and counselors, those who so recently encouraged his action against Mordecai, now forecast doom for Haman.

Before he knew it, Haman was being whisked away to his feast with Esther and the king. With the feast, of course, came the wine. There was wine at the beginning of our story in Esther. The wine flowed freely for 180 days and led to the whole Vashti incident. Here, the wine time marked another dismissal from the palace.

Ahasuerus again asked Esther to tell him what she wanted. Slowly and surely, she rolled out her issue. She asked him to preserve her life and the lives of her people who had been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. With her request, Esther is careful not to implicate the king in put the decree in force. She also points out just how the kingdom will suffer without the work and wisdom and skill of the Jews.

“Who’s responsible for this?” asked the king.

“Our foe and enemy! Haman,” she answered.

The devil in the palace was now exposed. The king angry and, perhaps, confused moved to his garden to think. Haman trembled and begged Esther for her help. He fell upon her couch just as Ahasuerus returned. The king viewed the scene as an attack on Esther. He ordered Haman to be hung upon the very gallows he built to kill Mordecai.

Esther’s work in the palace was not finished. Haman’s law was still in force. Medo-Persian decrees are irrevocable, as we read in the story of King Darius with Daniel and the lions’ den in Daniel 6. Something more had to be done. Haman was gone, but the legislation he crafted was still on the books.

The queen again had to “break palace law” and go uninvited before Ahasuerus. She was bolder with this approach as she fell and wept at the king’s feet. He again stretched his scepter to the queen and Ahasuerus gave her this: “You may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”

Haman’s plot to wipe out the Jews was neutralized by a fresh decree that gave the Jews the right and resources to defend themselves. And due to the lot – the pur — cast by Haman regarding his decree, the Jews would have 11 months to ready and arm themselves.

In time, Mordecai and Esther became the chief figures in all the realm of Persia. The day of the pur did come and it was the Jews who stood in triumph. In fact, many people took steps to become Jewish in order to avoid the vengeance of this people.

Esther is book in which the name of God is excluded, likely because the account was lifted right from the royal chronicles of Persia. Though we do not read His name in this book, we cannot deny the sovereign hand of His at work in the situations that present themselves.

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Seeker of the Lost

The Son of Man came for one reason, “to seek and to save the lost.”  Jesus made this point in Luke 19.This chapter describes Jesus as He visits two towns and the Temple.

First, Jesus stopped in Jericho. This city stands out on the pages of Jewish history. Joshua led Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land and Jericho represented Israel’s first conquest in Canaan. It was momentous victory orchestrated by the hand of the Lord.

Jericho was a walled city, but those defenses would fall flat as Joshua and the people obeyed the word of the Lord. Nearly everything and everyone in the town was destroyed, according to the instruction of God.

What exactly survived this attack? A Babylonian cloak, a bit of silver and a brick of gold – all of which were snatched away by a disobedient soldier named Achan. He hid them in his tent, but his sin was found out. He brought defeat and death to Israel and also to himself and to his family with this foolish act. That’s the sad part of this Jericho visitation of the Lord.

The glad part of that first visitation involved a harlot, Rahab, and her family. She believed what she had heard about the God of Israel and the power He demonstrated on behalf of His people. She hid two Hebrew spies and was rewarded with a promise of safety for all who would be found under her roof.

God proved faithful to Rahab. She and her family were spared from the ruination of Jericho. Beyond this, Rahab was taken as a wife by one from the tribe of Judah and she wound up in the family lineage of King Jesus. What a great salvation was given to this woman.

In Luke’s gospel, we read of how Jesus comes to Jericho and meets someone else seeking God. Zacchaeus was counted as an enemy of his people. This Jewish tax collector compromised with the Roman Empire and was known to overcharge and cheat those from his own nation.

On this day, however, everything changed for Zacchaeus. He wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus, but he was too short to get a view of the street. So he climbed a tree and caught the eye of his Savior.

What Zacchaeus didn’t know was that Jesus was looking for him, too. And once the Lord saw him He invited Himself to have lunch at the tax collector’s house.

 It struck many there as odd and disgraceful that Jesus decided to eat with this crooked man. The presence of the Lord filled that place and Zacchaeus was transformed. Like Abraham, he believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Salvation entered a Jericho home through an open door and found an open heart. It was a triumph and a joy to Jesus.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

After this remarkable moment, Jesus moved toward the larger and more significant city in the region, Jerusalem. The news of His coming had surely been heard. How would He be received? Would there be those, like Zacchaeus, climbing trees to get a look at Him?

As He drew close to the city, a crowd shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Their expectation, however, was different from that of Zacchaeus and Jesus knew it. These people wanted a conqueror, a hero, a champion who would push back the forces of Rome and raise Israel to the heights it once had during the days of Solomon.

They wanted a king made for this world. Jesus was King, but a King of another kind; He was and is a King who came to wins hearts for the Kingdom to come.

Jerusalem was a place of cold, hard religion. The understanding of this broke the heart of her true King as He surveyed the city from a hilltop.

Jesus wept. He knew the rejection that was to come. He wept not out pity for Himself, but out of grief for what that rejection would mean for His Chosen People.

On that day, the very peace of God was there for Jerusalem. The leaders and officials of the town had crafted many rules and negotiated with Rome to contrive a measure of tranquility in Judea. But such things were not the lasting peace that Person of the Son could bring to them.

Jesus came to His own, to His nation, to His brothers and sisters, and they did not receive Him. They shut their eyes tight and plugged their ears to the message of salvation that Christ came to deliver.

Did Jesus turn away? No, He did not.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus put Himself right in the center of Jerusalem life. He entered the Temple and exercised His authority. Here, the Son of God took His stand. He drove out the merchants who had made the House of Prayer into a den of thieves. These wheelers and dealers masked the glory of God and stole from the people the sense of His presence that should have reigned in His House.

The authorities sought to destroy Jesus. And, they would do just that in time. Their loud voices and bullying ways would send Jesus to the Cross. But for now there was nothing these leaders could do.

Peace had come. The visitation of the Son would accomplish its work in those willing to hear and believe.

And so Jesus taught daily. The Rahabs and Zacchaeuses came out to hear Him. Such as these hung on His words for they found them to be words of life, words of salvation and hope.

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

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Kingdom and the King

“Let your Kingdom come, on Earth as it is in Heaven. …”

In these days when we hear and read of confused governments and outrageous politicians, we can take comfort in knowing that God is on His Throne. He is seated above Creation. He is Lord of all.

He rules. There is no other like Him. Let’s consider what the Bible tells about His Kingdom, and what it means from the divine side of things.

Matthew’s gospel is the gospel of Jesus the King. It opens with these words: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” At once, the writer established that Jesus was of royal lineage, a descendant of the family covenanted to rule and reign over God’s chosen nation.

One of the original 12 Apostles, Matthew traced the Savior’s ancestry and set it forth as evidence of His claim to the throne of Israel. He followed this record with the birth account that featured the little town of Bethlehem, the ancestral of home of King David.

Taken together, these first paragraphs of the New Testament emphasized the kingdom on Earth. But there was more to the royalty of Jesus. It is seen in the story of the Magi who came to Jerusalem seeking the Son of David, the one born “King of the Jews.”

It was the Star that shone in the sky that captured the attention of these learned ones. Longtime students of the heavens, of the constellations and the galaxies, they took note of this brightest of lights. It was Heaven’s  testimony of the Kingdom’s coming.

Word of Jesus’ coming was enough to stir things in this world. The news of the King brought trembling to Jerusalem, the city of David, the place where this shepherd king established his throne and set in motion the construction of the great Temple dedicated to the Lord. The priests and scribes knew the words of the prophets, but seemed not to believe them. There was no joy among them, only anxiety over what might happen.

Herod, the ruler of this city and its region, feigned homage while he plotted to eliminate any challenge to his authority. The Roman despot was ruthless. He would not tolerate another King in his domain. When the news of Jesus’ whereabouts never came, Herod ordered a purge of all boys 2 years old and under. This king slew many sons and brought sorrow to the region.

But then Herod died. His kingdom came and went with him. Another took up his place.

An Everlasting Rule

Jesus came as King of an everlasting Kingdom, one of Truth. He did not flex His muscles and push His way to His Throne. He came to claim His rule in a way so contrary to the world’s ways. He came first as the Lamb of God. His time to roar will surely come. It will have all the sound and fury that we think of when there is grand and glorious triumph.

But first, there was the matter of winning hearts to Him.

There are two phrases we read in the Gospels:  Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven. These mean different things.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the big picture. God rules and reigns from above. All is under Him and His authority. He is sovereign in His purposes. His providence brings life to all creatures. The seas and all that is in them belong to Him. The cattle on the thousands of hills are His.

The Kingdom of God, however, speaks of something seemingly small, but infinitely more precious to Him – our hearts. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance. For this reason, He so loved the world through the one and only Son.

Proverbs 8:31 says that God rejoices in the habitable parts of His earth; He delights to be with the sons of men. The Kingdom of God is something we enter into through our relationship to Him. John 3:3 makes it plain: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

All are born subject to the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who choose the narrow way of salvation enter into the large place, into the Kingdom of God, through their submission to Him.

Person and Relationship

The issue is really one of Person and our relationship to that Person. Christ in us is our hope of glory, but without Christ in us, we would be left on the outside looking in as it related to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said this to a group of religious leaders in Luke 17. They were demanding answers about the where and the when of the coming Kingdom. The Lord addressed their misconceptions head on – “the Kingdom of God does not come with observation … for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).

Some think that Kingdom of God living simply involves being in the right places at the right times and seasons. This is the essence of religious practice. Do this, do that, be here, be there, show up, work up, follow the rules, etc.

Paul clarified things with his definition in Romans 14: “the Kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).

The Kingdom of God life is about God and our fellowship with Him. Living waters flow from out of us and splash on those around us. Our nearness to Him is the thing makes a difference in this world. We can affect so many with the joy and righteousness that we have from Him. We live as lambs among wolves with meek and holy ways that point to the one true King.

The Lamb shall also roar as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. All will see Jesus that way at a time not so long from now. He shall take up His throne and every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.