God himself twice offered his people the right to TEST him: in Isaiah 7:10-14 when threatened with danger they feared; in Malachi 3:8-12 when they robbed God by refusing to tithe. Note: while on multiple other occasions the unsaved have unsuccessfully tried to Test God, only on those two occasions did he allow it.
God’s very approval of Jesus imposed a time of testing at the beginning of his public ministry Matthew 4:1-11. While the Father’s praise of Jesus there exceeded any he offered anyone else EVER, he never had less to say about him as his ministry progressed. He did have MORE, and MUCH MORE to say. So much more that, in 3 ½ years, Jesus worked in perfect obedience to God’s will. Read John 5:16-30, 36-47, 6:25-40, 7:37-39, 8:21-30, 48-59—splendid passages of many equally splendid expressing that truth. So much more that, when mockers demanded Christ’s exit from the Cross to prove himself the Son of God, God let him STAY there till he died because HE WAS the Son of God, the only person in history worthy to die as our substitute. And Jesus STAYED there till he died to prove that his death for human sin wasn’t too great a price to pay to perfect his LOVE for God and mankind. Which brings to mind the Master’s Gethsemane experience. Which is so sacred we have no right to approach, let alone the privilege of taking off our shoes and sharing it. For he alone, God the Son, struggled through groans and tears and drops of blood to retain his Perfect love for God the Father…AND…by struggling…ACHIEVED! We have no spiritual capacity to ever understand Christ’s devotion to God, let alone how he experienced it in the Garden. For God has never, for a moment, meant to us what he meant to Jesus forever and ever. We can only stand afar off and WONDER at such LOVE, then turn away, ashamed of our infinitely lesser love for both. End Part II
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2024
Categories
All
|