Christmas 2019: Behold My Son, in Whom I am well pleased, part 5.

Class Outline:

Tuesday January 07,2019

 

The Law and the prophets and the writings revealed a world-wide war and an ultimate victory by God through a suffering Servant.

 

The Jews indeed saw the victorious Servant as the Messiah, but they interpreted the passages concerning the suffering Servant as referring to the nation of Israel. This was a mistake because it ignores the means by which God would achieve victory. Not to mention, the nation wasn’t supposed to suffer, but to be prosperous. Even the disciples didn’t understand this after being taught it by Jesus for years. They wouldn’t understand until after His resurrection.

 

The Savior’s suffering was revealed from the beginning, GEN 3:15.

 

GEN 3:15 And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel."

 

Morality is a day to day battle within every man. The battle of Christ against darkness is bigger than this and doesn’t depend upon it.

 

Focusing on ourselves and our day-to-day lives without understanding of the big picture of the invisible war, the angelic conflict, we will find our lives mundane, boring, and meaningless.

 

We must not lose focus on our day to day struggle, but we must always see it in light of the invisible war that rages in the universe that doesn’t depend upon our lives.

 

Some lose the focus of one or the other, to the detriment of their spiritual lives. Losing the big picture, life and all its details becomes mundane. Thinking only of the big picture, we don’t do anything.

 

Morality or ethics are a day to day battle that wages within every man. The believer knows this more than anyone, and if he is in the know, he understands that God has fully blessed and empowered him, by grace alone, for complete victory in that battle - every day. This is a part of the story of every person because what it does not include is God’s works in the world that defeat His enemies. Let me clarify. Our daily lives can enjoy the benefits of God’s victory, but they do not contribute to it.  

 

The suffering Servant was ignored in Israel when Christ was born, and when He began His public ministry He focused directly on the deep spiritual core of God’s revelation to Israel.

 

JOH 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 

 

JOH 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You shall become free'?"

 

It is a lie that they are free due to their pedigree.

 

Jesus’ reply: Are you a sinner? The Law should have made clear to you long ago that you are. If you are a sinner, you are a slave, no matter who your ancestor is. That is a profound and possibly life saving truth.

 

JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

 

JOH 8:35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

 

JOH 8:36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

What is so wonderfully clear here is that we cannot free ourselves from sin. Only the Son can make us free. To do this He would have to ransom us or redeem us. He didn’t say that He would make us sinless and therefore qualify us for freedom by that fact. He said that He would free us, and by law that is the right of the Kinsman Redeemer. All who believe upon Him become Ruths who leave the gleaning fields and enter the house.

 

JOH 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's offspring; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

 

The word is known by them, but it hasn’t found a home within them. The Greek word means “to contain,” like water in a pot. Someone can know the word but not contain the truth.

 

The truth is more than knowledge. To contain truth within ourselves, we must know it and understand it, meaning also that we must understand Jesus Christ and understand Him.

 

Understanding takes time, repetition, struggle to live righteously, perseverance, more time, contemplation, prayer; in other words understanding demands the endurance of striving to live in the way, life, and truth of Christ.

 

The entrance into that life has been gifted to every believer. Endurance is up to the believer desire, which if proper is empowered by the Spirit and the truth.

 

HEB 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

 

HEB 10:20 by a new and living way which [entrance] He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 

HEB 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God [the son lives in the house forever, JOH 8:35],

 

HEB 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith [as a son of the King should], having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

EPH 1:8-9

In all wisdom and insight [phronesis: wisdom, understanding, prudence] He made known to us the mystery of His will

 

JOH 8:31 Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." 

 

JOH 8:33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You shall become free'?"

 

JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

 

JOH 8:35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

 

JOH 8:36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

 

JOH 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's offspring; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

 

JOH 8:38 "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father." 

 

JOH 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.

 

The Pharisees had taught for years that all Israel, due to genealogy alone, would inherit the kingdom of God.

 

JOH 8:40 "But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.

 

JOH 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God."

 

That was meant as an insult, having heard that His mother was pregnant before her marriage. They are rejecting the sign given to Ahaz in Isa 7, just as Ahaz did, and actually mocking it. Not knowing the truth makes one a fool.

 

JOH 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.

 

JOH 8:43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.

 

Those who have accepted lies cannot hear the truth. They have already decided that everything Jesus said is a lie.

 

Those who can hear the truth are not committed to lies, even though they entertain them. Often it is a tragedy that opens their eyes to the possibility that something might be wrong with their understanding, and thus the weak shell develops cracks. Then there are those who hold to the lies no matter what happens. Why pride remains in some and in others it begins to decay, is a mystery.

 

JOH 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

 

The war of the universe is between truth and lies.

 

No matter what are the circumstances of our own individual lives, there can be truth or lies in my heart, and that’s the big picture becoming a part of my little picture.

 

I could be engulfed in a horrible or very difficult set of circumstances and still possess blessed peace because the truth of my Lord and His victory, the truth of my origin, the truth of my meaning, the truth of my morality, and the truth of my destiny are all dwelling within my heart, always honing my perception, always energizing my hands and feet, always painting bright colors on my future.