Two passage jumped out at me today.
The first one only did because of reading my notes in my Life Application Bible. It's the story of Jesus raising the widow's son from the dead.
This story illustrates salvation. The whole world was dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), just as the widow's son was dead. Being dead, we could do nothing to help ourselves - we couldn't even ask for help. But God had compassion on us, and he sent Jesus to raise us to life with him (Ephesians 2:4-7). The dead man did not earn his second chance at life, and we cannot earn our new life in Christ. But we can accept God's gift of life, praise God for it, and use our lives to do his will.
The second thing is that John the Baptist had doubts about Jesus.
I'm not sure that I fully noticed this passage before. But it's true. The great prophet who witnessed the Holy Spirit landing on Jesus and God the Father confirming Jesus as His Son, the prophet who proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, the prophet who later was a matyred hero, this prophet had doubts.
John did not like how Jesus was acting. He wasn't acting like he thought the Messiah was supposed to act.
In his sermon John's Problem with Jesus, Bob Deffinbaugh points out....
The major difference between John and Jesus, as I see it, and the one which best explains John’s unhappiness with Jesus, is the difference in the emphasis of the message of each. John’s emphasis was on sin, judgment, and condemnation, while Jesus’ emphasis was on healing and salvation. Both emphases were biblical and important, but they were very different in tone and in their outworking. The Old Testament prophets contained an emphasis on both areas, but in practical outworking John focused on the judgment side of Messiah’s coming and Jesus focused on the salvation side.
John’s task was to condemn Israel’s sins and to warm of the impending judgment of God. It was also to call on men and women to repent for their sin to avoid the wrath of God. John’s problem was that he did not understand that there were two comings of Messiah, the second of which was for the purpose of judgment, the first of which was to become a provision for man’s salvation by dying for the sins of the world. Jesus’ first coming was to bear the judgment of God, not to bring it. John’s message was true, and it served the purpose of preparing men for Christ’s first coming by calling many to repentance. Those who acknowledged themselves to be sinners found grace and forgiveness. John was perplexed by our Lord’s mercy and healing, for He expected Him to inaugurate the kingdom in a very different way.
And Jesus answered John's doubts by pointing him back to the Word. Reminding him to compare the prophecies of the OT with the words and actions of Jesus.John 7:22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."
is a fulfillment of Isaiah 35:5-6 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
and Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
It is normal to have doubts. It's what we do with those doubts that's important.
We need to admit our doubts. We need to bring those doubts to God. We need to get back to the Word. We need to pray.
Tomorrow's passage: Luke 8:1-3, Mark 3:20-30, Matthew 12:22-45, Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21, Mark 4:1-9, Matthew 13:1-9, Luke 8:4-8, Mark 4:10-20
For less flipping read Luke 8:1-8, 19-21; Mark 3:20-4:20; Matthew 12:22-13:9
1 comment:
I thought, too, it was a little odd that John would doubt Jesus after baptizing Him, seeing the Holy Spirit rest on Him, and hearing the voice of God say, "This is MY SON"! How could you later wonder??
But that's a good point about the different messages. John was an Old Testament prophet in every sense (except the time period in which he lived!), and again, we see Jesus just not LOOKING like everyone thought The Messiah would look. But at least John asked and didn't just reject Him!
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