What Christ Accomplished

"And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."

Luke 9:30-31

As Jesus prayed on the mountain, He was transfigured and was clothed with glory.  He spoke with Moses and Elijah because God is the God of the living, and the subject of their discussion was intriguing:  His upcoming decease He was about to accomplish.  Most people do not see death as an accomplishment, but Jesus through His death would accomplish more than mortal man or scheming devil could know.  Jesus was about to conquer death by His own death and provide eternal life through His atoning sacrifice.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus he identified Him as "The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).  The scripture is filled with things Jesus accomplished on Calvary culminating in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and intercession for as many as receive Him.  Paul wrote in Galatians 1:4-5 of Christ "...who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."  By His atonement Jesus made a way of salvation by faith in Him possible, washed us from sin and imputed righteousness to all who believe.  Jesus has delivered us from sin, Satan and hell and saved us for eternal life and glory with Him.

Recently I was struck by the prophetic utterance of what Christ would accomplish as if it was already finished in Isaiah 53:4-5:  "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."  Many Christians are aware our sins were placed upon Jesus but have not considered that our griefs, sorrows, afflictions and sickness has been as well.  Having overcome sin and death by His divine power, so we also are no longer slaves to grief, sorrow or afflictions.  Knowing Jesus has accomplished this, faith in Him prompts us to be casting our cares upon Him because He cares for us.

There are times when we care about things we cannot change, but God's care for us is combined with almighty power.  Isn't it possible we have tried to shoulder grief and sorrow that overwhelmed us ourselves when Jesus has already borne it for us because we did not know this is part of His accomplishment?  If we will gladly give Him our sin, won't we give Him our grief and afflictions too?  We are not sufficient or able to do even this, but thanks be to God who helps and strengthens us to believe, receive and give.  Jesus was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" and yet He continually has perfect peace and fullness of joy.  We cannot understand how this can possibly be, but what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Declared Of God!

"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

1 John 4:4

It is wonderful to consider all Jesus has done for believers.  Because He came to earth and gave His life as a ransom for many, we can be born again by faith in Jesus through the Gospel.  John 1:11-13 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."  To be declared children "of God" by faith in Jesus Christ!  To lay hold of this new identity and righteous standing with God by grace is a humbling privilege.

When Jesus came to Jerusalem, the Pharisee Nicodemus pulled him aside and they had a chat under cover of darkness.  It is written in John 3:2, "This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  There is a world of difference believing Jesus was a teacher come from God, that He was of God or that He was God.  It seems Nicodemus was yet to be convinced about who Jesus was, that He was the promised Messiah.  He did far better than other religious rulers spoken of in the first part of John 9:16:  "Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."  Jesus was more than from God or of God, for He is called Emmanuel:  God with us.

Because believers in Christ are born again of God, our lives ought to be marked by godliness.  When we talk about being "godly" it typically based upon observable piety, yet godliness is more about who we are in Christ than about what we do or avoid doing.  We are godly because we are of God, and this realisation ought to have a tremendous impact on us choosing to walk in godliness.  1 Timothy 3:16 says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."  True godliness has been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, and we are called to follow Him in faith and obedience.  He blazed a trail to the right hand of God the Father in heaven where we will join Him one day in glory, and so let us walk worthy of those who are of God as He is.

Seeks and Saves

I find encouragement in videos of people who seek to rescue and rehabilitate neglected or abandoned animals.  It is amazing the amount of effort people will go through to capture a stray so they can be reunited with their owner or to provide a new, suitable home with food, shelter and love.  I have seen mangy and sick dogs with ribs showing from malnutrition to looking nothing like the dog they once were.  Some animals go from cowering in a corner and preferring solitude to bounding up to their new owner, tail wagging, and enjoying their new life.

While it isn't the best analogy, I see some similarities to how Jesus went to seek and save the lost.  As incredible and pronounced as the change is in animals that are rescued and re-homed, it pales in comparison to the transformation faith in Jesus brings to a person inside and out.  Jesus did not lure people with food or secretly set a trap to capture prospective followers for their own good:  He simply sought them out, spoke the truth with love and compassion, and He was the Servant of all.  Over time people listened to Jesus and responded to His call to follow Him.  Belief was only the beginning of a process of being transformed from within by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had compassion on the multitude and also to a sick, lonely man who did not have anyone to help him.  Jesus knew what people had suffered at the hands of others, due to their own sin, choices and folly and chose to reveal Himself to them as the Son of God through Whom forgiveness of sins and eternal life was assured.  While some scampered away, others drew near and sat at His feet.  Jesus demonstrated patience continually with everyone around Him, whether they were snarling enemies or fawning disciples.  This patient compassion seen in Christ ought to mark Christians as well, for though a person can be born again in an instant there is a process of maturation and wisdom that cannot be rushed.  God sanctifies us by faith in Christ, and we are also learning to sanctify ourselves by walking by faith and not by sight.

The patience shown with neglected and sick animals can put me to shame because I have not always extended such patient compassion to other people.  It is easier to be compassionate towards a stray than your own dog who should know better from much training.  Better than seeing ourselves as the one out there looking for strays in the analogy, it is humbling and helpful to know we are one of those strays.  We are not a Saviour; we have no power to transform anyone.  But we can lead those in our pack to seek the LORD Jesus Christ Who loves and has compassion on us, provides for us, protects us, our Master we need right now more than ever.  Praise the LORD for Jesus, the One who seeks and saves the lost.

Seeing the LORD

When I was a kid it was fun to take stock of my prized possessions.  This meant pouring out my marbles on the carpet to separate and examine them, removing money from my piggy bank to count it or looking through baseball and football cards.  I was careful to keep my money in the bank so I didn't lose it, and I kept my baseball cards in a shoebox to keep them from being creased or damaged.  There was a sense of accomplishment to see your stuff laid out in full view because most of the time the things I valued were hidden away somewhere to be kept safe.

Isn't it true that there are things we would like to see because we are not currently seeing them--like seeing people change in making wise decisions, seeing goals achieved, seeing Christians grow in maturity, to see new believers coming to Christ or maybe see people in fellowship at church?  There are all kinds of things we would like to see, and know when our desires are fulfilled we would like to see it again or see something new because our eyes are not satisfied by seeing.  It is good to come to a place of rest in our Saviour's sovereignty and grace we are not discouraged by what we see or do not see.  Many times people have left a church because they weren't "seeing" what they wanted to see:  they wanted to see people healed physically, see more community outreach, see more people filled with the Holy Spirit.  Because they didn't see what they wanted to see they broke off fellowship and looked for it elsewhere.

I say all this to point out that even when you see what is beyond your dreams and expectations it may not benefit you at all.  There is a circumstance in scripture that illustrates this well.  During the reign of King Joram in Samaria, the Assyrians laid siege to the city and the famine was severe.  When Joram went to confront the prophet Elisha, he was given a revelation from the living God in 2 Kings 7:1-2:  "Then Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the LORD: 'Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.'" ²  So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, "Look, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?" And he said, "In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it."  The officer was incredulous even God could do what Elisha said based upon what he could see currently, the squalid suffering of God's people with strong enemies outside the gate.  What Elisha said miraculously came to pass when the army fled overnight and left their food and valuables behind:  the man saw food in abundance he never partook of because he was trampled in the gate.  Seeing with his eyes did not profit him at all.

Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"  It does not profit a man to count money he will not spend, to see food he cannot eat or to gain the world and lose his own soul.  Unless the things we see prompts us to a God-honouring response, it will not profit at all.  We can rejoice to see people growing in grace and knowledge of the LORD, but unless it spurns us on to seek God ourselves it is of little value to us at all.  King Solomon, who amassed great riches, wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:11:  "When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?"  So you see the money pouring in:  of what benefit is that to you when you must pay more in wages and taxes?  The things we want to see can be the things we set our hearts on that are of the flesh and of this world that is passing away and will not profit us.

So church services are full of people or noticeably empty:  what is that to you?  So the sermons don't seem to be engaging many people based upon views:  was that sermon preached for them or for God's sake and in obedience to Him?  When our eyes are fixed upon the LORD, we finally begin to see things more clearly.  When our eyes are searching for what is not, remember that even when we see more than we imagined there is no guarantee we will benefit at all.  Look to the LORD Jesus Christ and serve Him, believer, whether or not you are seeing what you want to see in a church, in people or in yourself.  Hope in the almighty God, servant of the Most High, for He is the One who establishes us and makes us fruitful by His grace.