God Was Pierced

For those who have eyes to see and a heart to understand, the Bible is packed with wisdom and eternal truth.  As we walk with God through our earthly journey, the Holy Spirit sharpens our discernment of God's Word.  We may read a passage a thousand times and never see spiritual reality which has always been hiding in plain sight.  Just this morning I read a familiar passage which struck me like never before concerning Christ's deity.  In blank pages in the back of my Bible I record verses which emphasise the divinity of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Though it was already noted, God's truth refreshed my soul anew.

I was reading Zechariah 12:9-10 which says, "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. ¹⁰ "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (emphasis mine) God the Father is speaking through the prophet concerning the Messiah, His only beloved Son sent to be the Saviour of the world.  I was struck by the shift of pronouns in verse 10:  God said they would look upon "Me whom they pierced."  Jesus was pierced on a cross with a crown of thorns, nails through His hands and feet, and a spear in His side.  The passage immediately continued with, "Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son..."  The change of pronouns is grammatically difficult to reconcile unless God the Father and Jesus Christ share the nature of the One True God.  Those who looked upon the crucified Christ were looking at God made flesh.

Jesus said in John 4:24 concerning the Father, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  The Father could not be crucified, nor could His blood be shed without human form.  Yet consider what Paul wrote of God in Acts 20:28, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."  God purchased the church by shedding His own blood.  The only way that God could shed blood is if He become flesh, and in Colossians we are told in Jesus is the fullness of the godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).  Jesus was sent by the Father, indwelt by the Spirit, crucified on Calvary, and raised in eternal glory and power.  He is a man, and He is also God.  Unless Jesus is God, He cannot be good for He told us plainly there is no one good but God (Mark 10:18).  Either Jesus is not good or He is good and God!  Only God could provide a perfect atoning sacrifice for sinners, and Christ willingly laying down His life on Calvary was a demonstration of God's love for all.

1 John 4:12-15 says, "No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."  No one has seen God the Father at any time, but John beheld the glory of God through Jesus Christ.  Positionally Christ submitted to the will of the Father as a man and as an example for men, yet His nature was wholly divine.  This passage ends with a promise:  those who confess Jesus is the Son of God - God made flesh - God abides in him and he in God.  This glorious reality is afforded all who repent and trust in Jesus as LORD and Saviour.  Jesus came as Emmanuel (God with us) and through faith in Him we can experience God IN us through the Holy Spirit.  Praise God for His Word and the revelation of His divine love and power!

Doing God's Will

Among some Christians, "God's will" has a perpetually mysterious quality.  People wonder what God's will is concerning their lives and for each circumstance they face.  This approach to know God's will can resemble greatly a quest in seeking a medium, palm reader, or fortune teller believing special knowledge will provide useful aid.  It is important we recognise God has revealed His will through His Word, and He has done so for the express purpose we would walk in obedience to it.  Christianity is more than knowing the truth but living it out aligned with God's desires.  It is a shame when Christians live in state of self-imposed paralysis and confusion, not knowing what to pray or do because they are torn in recognition of their limited perspective of "God's will."  God has provided much more than facts about Him:  God has provided Himself and all that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Because all humans tend to worry, knowledge of the future brings an ease and comfort the flesh enjoys.  Sometimes God does reveal the future to people through various means.  But God is not interested in coddling our flesh and therefore rarely spells out His overarching plans for why He allowed our tyre to go flat or why the power shut off at 2am and the alarm clock was reset resulting in us being late.  God has revealed His will so we might know His character, like where it is written in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."  God has also revealed His will for people as we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:  "Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  God's will can be known, and we through faith in Christ can accomplish it.  The Bible is absolutely packed with revelations concerning God's will.

It is easy for us to figure an eternal, all-powerful Being could simply impose His "will" however He wishes in the world He has made.  God's will in this sense shall always be ultimately accomplished in His time and sovereign way.  But our great struggle is to comprehend how God permits what He does not approve.  For instance, God is not willing any should perish yet people die every day.  People who die in their sins face eternal justice in the fires of hell.  Since God created man in His image with the freedom to choose, God imposes His will of eternal righteousness and justice upon those who refuse His remedy for salvation.  It is God's will that men would rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks to Him in everything - but that does not mean God will force a man to do so.  God enables and empowers man to accomplish this through the Holy Spirit, but He permits man to go his own way.  When you are unsure of God's will, the wise response is to seek the God who has spoken, will speak truth, and has promised to guide our every step.

Knowledge in itself is a false comfort, for only in God can we experience rest for our souls.  God tells us His will so we might do it.  Ephesians 5:15-17 shows we can know God's will:  "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  We know God's will only through knowing Him.  The fool does not account for God's power, promises, or purposes concerning his life, but the wise man fears God and trusts Him alone.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and our faithful practice of walking obediently to God's will cultivates true fellowship with God.  Paul prayed for Christians to know God's will and this prayer is according to God's will.  Colossians 1:9 says, "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding..."

Knowing is one thing, and belief and subsequent obedience is another.  God's commands in His Word reveal His will concerning your life.  One example is Jesus commanded Christians to love one another as He loves us.  We can know this is God's will, His perfect plan to govern our words, attitude, and works.  It is in discovering God through His Word we learn to walk in His will.  Knowing the will of God may be novel, but this knowledge alone does not save:  being born again by genuine faith in Christ results in obedience.  Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' ²³ And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"  If your desire is only to know the will of God, you will likely remain in confusion.  But if you desire to know God's will fervently so you might obey it you are not far from discovering it.  If we will seek God we will find Him, if we seek Him with our whole hearts.

A Trinity Illustration

God has chosen to reveal Himself to men.  Without His light and divine assistance, we could only stumble in the dark.  That being said, the ability to know God is only through faith according to knowledge revealed in scripture.  Because God is eternal and infinite, He cannot be completely known.  His thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways.  An element of faith is required on every step as our understanding develops and grows.

Take being "born again," for instance.  When Jesus told Nicodemus a man must be born again to enter into God's kingdom, the learned man was confused.  Was Jesus saying a man must squeeze himself back into his mother's womb to be born a second time?  No!  Jesus immediately pointed to the wind:  the effect of the wind is clearly seen in the trees, but no one knows exactly where it comes from or where it goes.  So is the way of the Spirit of God.  When a man repents and trusts in Christ as Saviour, the Holy Spirit enters a person and creates a new man.  He is given a new living nature, is cleansed from all sin, and is made righteous before God.  We cannot explain scientifically how the Holy Spirit does this, but we can know for certain He does through clear evidence.

One sticking point for many is understanding how God is One yet manifested in the Bible in three distinct Persons:  God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  All creation speaks of the glory of God, and one of the best illustrations to explain the Triune Godhead is our sun.  The sun is a ball of gas burning in the heavens which provides light and heat to our world which promotes life, health, and fruitfulness.  When we say we are "in the sun" we do not mean we physically are walking on the sun's surface.  That would be impossible!  God the Father is the eternal spirit, unapproachable in His holiness, and a "consuming fire" (Deut. 4:24, Heb. 12:29).  The Father is represented by the sun, the heavenly body.

The sun provides light for the earth.  Light has dual properties of being both wave and particle.  Jesus is the "Light of the World" with the dual nature of God born in human flesh.  Jesus is called Emmanuel in Isaiah 9:6 which means, "God with us."  The light of the promised Messiah shone in the darkness, and men did not comprehend it.  Though the scripture affirms many times Christ's divinity, many remain in unbelief.   John 1:11-14 says, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

John the Baptist prophesied Jesus is the One who would baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Not only does the sun provide light, but it also generates heat.  When a person has the light of the sun shining upon them they are warmed.  Before Jesus ascended to the Father in heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit who would guide His disciples into all truth.  The Holy Spirit is represented in the heat of the sun, the one who indwells a man and makes him "on fire" for God.  The Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Christ on the Day of Pentecost, and He has been filling and empowering believers in service for God ever since.  He helps and comforts us in His warmth, provides gifts and fruit of the Spirit, and causes us to grow and mature like a healthy tree planted by deep springs of water.

We cannot fully comprehend God's thoughts and ways, but we can know Him intimately.  All is possible for those who believe, for nothing is too hard for our God!  Though it takes faith to know God, I pray this illustration would be useful to better understand the great God who loves us and is worthy of all honour and praise.  I conclude with 2 Corinthians 13:11-14:  "Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints greet you. ¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen."

To Know Perfect Peace

Man’s idea of “peace” cannot compare to the real thing.  Man, having settled down in God’s judgment seat, believes he can accomplish what God says is impossible:  the experience of genuine peace apart from God.   Isaiah 48:22 says, “There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.”  There it is!  Man’s concept of peace is inherently selfish, making concessions only when compromise provides a more favourable outcome than standing fast.  Peace is not made through treaties, political leverage, popular opinion, or acting in one’s best interest.  Peace is not making the choice not to kill people who were once your enemy without reconciliation, love, or joy present in your heart towards them.  No signature on a document can change the hearts of the men who sign it.

Peace is not the absence of war or political conflict, but unity of heart and spirit in love.  And God makes it perfectly clear no one can experience true peace while remaining in sin.  A man who refuses to make peace with God is without hope of any peace with men, no matter how rich or respected he is.  Consider this from another perspective:  say a person receives exactly what he desires and demands in full.  Does this bring peace to the heart of a man?  No!  His greed, distrust, and suspicion of others will not allow him to rest.  People who have all the world can offer still suffer niggling doubts, insecurity, anger over how they have been unjustly treated, or frustrated their expectations remain unmet.

A building project is a perfect example of how peace man’s way always falls short.  Say you have a set of drawings drafted to your exact specifications.  The most perfect plans in short order prove themselves lacking.  Amendments to the plans, issues with the builder, shoddy workmanship, delays of receiving hardware, cost overruns, and the time-consuming nature of building is a constant stress.  Man’s peace may look good on paper, but it can never be a reality as he imagines it.  Even if the house is built perfectly, nothing can prevent wear and tear.  More work and money will be required for maintenance and repairs.  Nothing can keep the paint from fading, vandals from targeting the façade with eggs, gates from squeaking, water damage, slippery floors, carpet from collecting dust, and the appliances wearing out.  Those who remain enemies of God because of their sin cannot dream of lasting peace, for God has spoken the truth:  “There is no peace for the wicked.”

Only in Jesus can a man find rest for his soul, a rest enjoyed apart from the circumstances of life.  The world can be a living hell, but the man who has peace with God discovers profound repose no trial or struggle can shake.  We are all born enemies of God due to sin, yet Jesus is our peace and has united us with Himself by grace through faith.  Ephesians 2:13-22 says, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; ¹⁵  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; ¹⁶  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: ¹⁷  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. ¹⁸  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. ¹⁹  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; ²⁰  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

God has offered peace to all who will make peace with Him through repentance and faith.  Peace primarily is an internal reality, not external or temporary.  It is a peace which endures as long as the Prince of Peace Himself.  Because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can fulfil the exhortation of Philippians 4:6-7: "Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." What a joy, to know the peace which passes understanding!  Though the depth of God’s peace cannot be plumbed or the breadth measured, it can be intimately known and realised.  Do you know this peace?  Do you want to?  Only those made righteous through faith in Christ can know peace, a peace this world cannot know apart from Him.