Daily Archives: December 23, 2013

Justice Or Mercy?

Bible Study, , ,

JUSTICE OR MERCY? 

“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can perform the signs you are doing if God were not with Him.’ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!'” John 3:1-4 (NIV).

Now here’s an honest Pharisee, if ever there was one! At least he admitted, on behalf of his fellow Pharisees, that Jesus had come from God. I wonder what the others would have said had they heard him. Would they have flatly denied ever saying that, or even thinking it? Or was Nicodemus using the royal “we”?

Nicodemus was honest enough to show Jesus that he had weighed up the evidence and come to the conclusion that Jesus was demonstrating something far beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. Unlike his colleagues, however, he didn’t attribute Jesus’ power to Beelzebub; He connected the dots and came up with the conclusion that Jesus and God were doing this together.

What was Nicodemus getting at? In a roundabout way he was asking, ‘Jesus, we are both teachers. What have you got that I haven’t got?’ Perhaps he didn’t get an opportunity to ask his question. Perhaps Jesus cut him short to stop him rambling and get him on the right track.

Jesus’ response was surprising — no explanation, just a bold statement. ‘You’ll never get it, Nicodemus, unless you are born again.’ What did He mean? What is this ‘born again’ idea that Christians bandy about so freely without understanding its meaning?

Throughout the Bible we read that there was special significance in being the firstborn in a family. Firstborn sons, first of all, belonged to God and had to be redeemed by the payment of a sum of money to the high priest. Firstborn animals were sacrificed. Firstborns carried the responsibility for the rest of the family. They received justice for any of their siblings’ wrongdoing while the sibling received mercy.

We see this illustrated in the story of Joseph. It was Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn who refused to kill Joseph but suggested they throw him in a pit… He planned to rescue him from the pit and return him to his father because he would have had to bear the punishment had they killed Joseph.

Firstborn sons also received a double portion of their father’s inheritance. This was to compensate for their responsibility, for example, of marrying a brother’s widow to produce offspring for his dead brother.

The Bible makes it clear that Adam was God’s firstborn and got justice for his sin. Since we are all “in Adam” we also should receive justice for all our sin. However, Jesus is described as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15 (NIV). Why is this so important? As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus received justice in order that we might receive mercy.

But I thought you said that in Adam we receive justice? True, but since we are “in Christ” we have received justice “in Him” because He died on our behalf. Now here’s the miracle. Jesus is also called “the last Adam” — second-born in God’s reckoning. Since we are “in Him” we received justice as firstborns but we also received mercy as second-borns! Isn’t that amazing? God is so precise and so just!

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, ‘If you want to understand what is happening in the realm of the unseen — the kingdom of God — you need a spiritual rebirth from justice into mercy.’ No one can understand or receive God’s mercy until he is transferred from the realm of justice to the realm of mercy on which what God’s way of dealing with people is based. Because God’s justice has been satisfied once and for all through the cross, He deals with us all as second borns — mercy, mercy, mercy!

‘Nicodemus, do you understand that? If you want to experience God’s mercy, you need to be transferred from “in Adam” to “in Christ” and that takes a supernatural act of God. It will never make sense to you until that happens and it won’t happen until you believe that I am the Son of God and that my sacrifice paid your debt and offers you mercy.’

Wow! Isn’t that something! And it’s freely available for all!

He Knows All People

Bible Study, , ,

HE KNOWS ALL PEOPLE 

“Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name. But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for He knew what was in each person.” John 2:23-25 (NIV).

One would think that Jesus would have been delighted with the success of His ministry. This was exactly what He wanted, wasn’t it?

But John makes a tongue-in-cheek comment about their response to Him. They trusted Him, but He didn’t trust them! Now there’s a problem! Jesus didn’t not respond to their faith as they expected. Is John saying that there was no work of God’s grace in them? That is drastic! Why not?

Firstly, they had not yet seen and heard enough of Jesus to make that commitment. Like the disciples, the Jews had an expectation of the Messiah that was not in keeping with His real identity and mission. They were expecting Him to get rid of their enemy, the Romans. He came to get rid of their real enemy, the devil, and to deal with sin and alienation from God, their Father and restore fellowship with Him.

Secondly, they were guilty of the most heinous of sins against God — self-seeking self-interest. Is that why John said that Jesus knew what was in man’s heart?

Of course Jesus knew! From the beginning of human history, when Adam chose to listen to the devil and defy God, man’s nature has been polluted with selfishness. He lost his God-awareness and became self-aware. He became the centre of his world, and everyone and everything else was to serve him, so he thought. He does everything to suit his own ends — hence war, greed, crime, divorce, promiscuity and every other evil you can think of.

The book of Job addresses this absolutely fundamental issue with regard to our relationship with God. Satan challenged the motive for Job’s righteousness. He accused him of being in it for what he could get out of it. ‘Take it all away and he’ll curse you,’ he sneered. ‘Okay,’ said God, ‘you can strip him of everything, but don’t touch his body.’

Satan let rip and in one day Job was stripped of all his possessions and even his family, yet his response was, “I was born naked and I’ll die naked. God gave and God has taken away. I still praise you, God!”

God said to Satan, ‘See, I told you Job is a righteous man.’ But Satan was not satisfied. ‘Just touch his body and see what happens,’ he challenged. ‘Go ahead,’ said God, ‘but don’t take his life.’ This time the devil did the worst he could think of without killing him.

Because of his terrible disease and the stench and disfigurement he suffered, Job put himself on the ash heap where he thought he belonged. From being a man of standing and influence in his community he had become trash. Because he was not given access to the behind-the-scenes exchange between God and Satan, he had no idea why God was treating him like this.

His so-called friends had the logical answer, ‘You must have sinned.’ Job denied doing wrong and turned to God for answers. God remained silent until Job had exhausted all his arguments, accusations and the defence of his integrity. When he had nothing more to say, God spoke. And did He speak! He gave Job the tongue-lashing of his life for daring to question Him.

But at the same time, God was pleased with Job. Why? Because, in spite of his suffering, he refused to give up on Him. ‘”Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him.’” Job 13; 15 (NIV). That’s all He needed to hear to confirm that Job’s faith was not in what God could do for him but in God Himself even if the worst happened.

In an environment of “prosperity” teaching, the “name-it-and-claim-it” movement and, even worse, “if things go wrong, you have sinned” philosophy, how many true believers are there in the church, to whom Jesus has entrusted Himself in response to their truly trusting Him even if He slay them? What a terrible insult to God that so many of His people are in it for gain, not for worship.

Are you?