Identify Jesus as LORD

 After Jesus spoke the parable of a sower, He explained how blessed His disciples were to have such revelation from the living God while the unbelieving remained ignorant in Matthew 13:16-17: "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."  Those who believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God could listen to and understand Him, but those who did not believe He was God made flesh remained in darkness.  Jesus again and again repeated His claims of being one with God, that He was equal with God and told Thomas, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).  The scribes and rulers who did not believe He was the Christ narrowed their eyes and repeatedly asked in their interactions with Jesus, "Now who do you make yourself to be?"  Those who would not believe could not receive His words.

In contrast, how bright is the Light of the World Jesus Christ who illuminates the meaning of God's word in the Old and New Testament!  The Old Testament hinted and alluded to the coming of the Christ, the Gospel and the eternal kingdom of God opened to Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus, and it was Jesus who fulfilled many prophesies in Himself.  Micah 4:1-7 is a good example of how knowing Jesus as LORD opens our understanding to the things God will surely bring to pass when Jesus establishes His kingdom in Jerusalem during the Millennial reign upon Christ's return:

"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. ² Many nations shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ³ He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. ⁴ But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. ⁵ For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. ⁶ "In that day," says the LORD, "I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; ⁷ I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever."

We can know we are not in this season of rest from war because of the conflicts that currently embroil the world.  The temple mount is not currently "exalted above the hills" and with COVID restrictions people are not flowing into it, neither are the lame being assembled or the outcasts gathered.  There is no one speaking forth the word of the LORD from Jerusalem the entire world currently hears and responds to.  To people who looked forward to sitting under their own vine and fig tree without fear in peace Jesus came and proclaimed His identity as the LORD God who teaches us His ways so we can walk in His paths.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  The Torah provided no assurance of eternal life, but twice in this passage we see allusions to the kingdom of God enduring "forever and ever."  A pious, Jewish rich young ruler approached Jesus and asked what thing he needed to do to secure eternal life--because he had done all from his youth and remained in doubt if he had done enough.  The scribes searched the scriptures, thinking in them they had eternal life, but they testified of Jesus who gives eternal life.

The teaching of Jesus reveals we cannot do anything to earn eternal life but it must be received as a gift of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus said in John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  The prayer of Jesus affirmed this again in John 17:1-3:  "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, ² as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  Believing Jesus is the Christ and eternal life is entered into by faith in Him alone opens our understanding to His teaching and illuminates the scripture to know God.

Learning Shown by Doing

Teaching the Bible is different than teaching other subjects because the aim is different.  God's will is not merely to educate or improve mankind but to transform hearers into the people He created and designed us to be.  Knowledge alone is incapable of doing what only God can do in a heart that believes and trusts Him.  It is possible, as Paul said, to be "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7).  In the Bible Knowledge Commentary Adam Clarke is credited with this quote, "There are many professors of Christianity still who answer the above description. They hear, repeatedly hear, it may be, good sermons; but, as they seldom meditate on what they hear, they derive little profit from the ordinances of God. They have no more grace now than they had several years ago, though hearing all the while, and perhaps not wickedly departing from the Lord. They do not meditate, they do not think, they do not reduce what they hear to practice; therefore, even under the preaching of an apostle, they could not become wise to salvation."

In Christianity, knowing is primarily shown by doing.  Having a grasp of sound doctrine is indispensable, but better to practice the little you know to be true in obedience to scripture than to know all mysteries of the kingdom of God and be denied access to it.  Preaching at its best is good teaching, and if it pleases God to gift people to teach it follows we all have a need to learn, grow and change.  Over time a small child grows into a man or woman, and many changes occur inside and out during that process.  An adult still has as much to learn as a little one when it comes to knowing God, for His ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.  Even our Saviour Jesus Christ as a human being needed to learn, for it is written in Hebrews 5:7-8 of Jesus "who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, ⁸ though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered."  Being God Jesus could have explained what obedience is, and until He was manifested in human form it could not be said it was possible for God to learn anything.  Even God learned by doing.

Even as Jesus Christ subjected Himself to Joseph and Mary, we ought to subject ourselves to walk in obedience to God's will as Paul urged in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7:  "Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; ² for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, ⁵ not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness."  It is one thing to know the commands given by Jesus, and it is God's will this should lead to knowing how to keep our bodies in sanctification, honour and holiness.  Knowing without doing leads to the snare of pride and arrogance, and thus Christians who are well-versed can stumble into the error of Satan and the Pharisees.  It is not that knowledge creates pride but having knowledge can invigorate and expose its existence already within us.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:1-3:  "Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ² And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him."  The one who takes pride in their great knowledge actually reveals their ignorance, for God's will is for us to do justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with God.  The greater our knowledge of God the more meek and humble we will be before God whom we fear and love.  The greater our knowledge of God's word the more obvious and detestable we will recognise our sin; a greater knowledge of God's will exposes our failure to walk in it and our desperate need for grace.  I love verse 3, don't you?  All we know pales in comparison to the God who knows us, for He knows anyone who loves Him.  We are nobodies God delights to call His own having loved Him because He first loved us.  Knowledge of the God who is love is a greater treasure than we can fully appreciate, and God willing we will learn to.

God Loves You Better

When the Chargers went to the Super Bowl in 1994, I was very excited to watch my team on the biggest stage the NFL could offer.  What began as a dream come true ended up the things of nightmares when the team folded like a beach towel and the poor start made catching up impossible.  I remember being so disheartened by the halftime score I decided it would be more fun to play football with friends in the yard rather than subject myself to additional disappointment of watching the beat-down continue.   Being a die-hard Charger fan (and thus a glutton for punishment) I watched the whole thing.  Though I have had access to the game and highlights, re-watching that game does not interest me.  Had the Chargers come out on top, however, it would be a different story.

During a gridiron season, "watching tape" is a huge part of scheming for future opponents and personal improvement by learning from your own mistakes to avoid repeating them.  The camera does not lie:  it will show a dropped pass, a muffed punt, a missed tackle and a blown assignment.  The footage reveals when a quarterback overthrew a wide open receiver and how a kicker pushed a potentially game-winning kick wide right.  I imagine some games make for difficult viewing for players who know well their errors and mistakes directly contributed to a painful loss for their whole team.  It wouldn't surprise me if players were reluctant to watch a recording of what they felt was their worst game ever, wanting to forget all memory of it and move on as if it never happened and could never happen again.

Now we'd like to do that with our sin as well, but God loves us better than that.  Like a father disciplines and corrects the son he loves, God deals with us when we choose sin that will, if left unchecked, cuts believers off from fellowship with Him.  The most humble, meek ones among us can kick against the goads wielded gently by the Holy Spirit.  Moses said to God in Numbers 11:14-15:  "I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now--if I have found favor in Your sight--and do not let me see my wretchedness!"  When the taxing situation of leading God's people in the wilderness overwhelmed Moses, he wished to die rather than be confronted with his own wretchedness.  This word is translated most often in the KJV of the Bible as evil (442 times), wickedness (59 times) and wicked (25 times).  The stress of dealing with the children of Israel exposed wickedness in Moses his flesh would rather die than see and address.  And that's exactly what sin does:  it was working to destroy and ruin Moses as it does all men.

In His wisdom God exposes our sins so we might confess them, repent and forsake them, choosing to walk in obedience to God instead.  The Law of Moses required the sacrifice of an acceptable animal whose blood was shed to atone for sin.  Jesus was sent as the Lamb of God without blemish who offered up His life as a substitute for sinners, paying the price we owed by the grace of God.  By God's divine power all our sins have been washed away and we have been forgiven of every trespass.  When we do sin (and there is no man alive who does not) God promises if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9-10).  Having forgiven us He does not make us watch again and again old tapes of our failures to condemn us:  there are many more sinful habits, thoughts and words He will address we never realised we were guilty of, and He reveals them to us because He loves us.  Perhaps you would rather die than deal with your sin, but God knows and loves you better than that.

God's Joyous Purpose

There are many verses often quoted from scripture, and the lesser known verses around them can add much to our understanding.  What a profitable practice it is to open your Bible, turn to a quotation from the scripture and read the verses before and after it.  Take Isaiah 55:9-11 as an example:  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."  God through the prophet used falling rain and snow as an illustration:  as rain falling from heaven causes plants to grow and be fruitful, God's word will accomplish what God pleases and will prosper for in God's purposes for sending it.

If we stopped here, we might left wondering what exactly God has in mind.  In many places in the Bible God reveals what pleases Him and what prosperity looks like from a godly perspective.  We could start finishing God's points for Him, inserting what we think is most important as His purpose for sending His word.  But the one who continues reading the chapter to the end will have some of God's purposes revealed plainly in Isaiah 55:12-13:  "For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

The paragraph that began with an exhortation to seek the LORD while He may be found and to call upon Him while He is near in repentance for mercy and pardon could be assured of God's affirming answer.  God's forgiving, restoring response to a lowly sinner according to God's word should result in joy and being led out with peace.  All nature rejoices over the greatness of God and His abundant provision of forgiveness for sinners and rain that causes trees to flourish.  Notice the transformation from thorns to cypress trees and how briers gave way to myrtle trees to the LORD for a name, "for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."  The word that gave life-giving rain to cypress and myrtle trees provides spiritual life by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells those who trust in Jesus Christ, and by grace we are called by His name.

Jesus spoke to His disciples in John 15:7-11:  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. ⁹ "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  As those flourishing trees were a sign, so the spiritual fruitfulness of believers provides evidence the power of God abides in those who abide in His love.  Joy, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, is experienced in fullness according to God's promise and grace in Christ's disciples.  The connection between the words of God and His purpose and pleasure to provide joy and peace to believers is plain when we press on and read beyond what is commonly quoted.