Monthly Archives: July 2025

THE BIGGEST RUSE

Apologetics, ,

So, what English word can one use to describe the most ruthless, cruel, and destructive trick the devil has ever pulled on the people of the world?

A farce…? A farce is a ludicrously improbable situation. No, this word doesn’t fit.

A ruse…? An action intended to deceive? Perhaps.

A hoax…? A malicious deception? I think this is the most apt word to describe what I am about to disclose.

From where did he, this arch-deceiver, pull this hoax that the world is divided by race? Are humans grouped according to a variety of different kinds of bodies, basic shapes, or ways of functioning? What do we see when we peel the skin off an African, an Asian, an Australian, a European, an American, or anyone from a remote island somewhere in the middle of the ocean? Are we so different inside that we do not all belong to one race, the human race? Does the inside differ so much from one group to another, one continent to another, that we are unrecognisable as one race on the inside? Do we have differing hearts, kidneys or any other organs inside our skin?

Imagine trying to organise an international sports event between “races” that look and function differently, like tigers versus giraffes!

Can you see how ridiculous racism is! Racism isn’t about fact. It’s a way of artificially driving us apart, creating divisions between us that we cannot heal, that foster hatred, bitterness and even war.

We must turn to the one reliable source of information to find the truth.

Acts of the Apostles 17:26 NLT
[26] “From ONE MAN he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.”

Did you get that? “From one man..”! Nations, yes, but not races. God’s plan was to create a unified race from one man, divided into nations, not skin colours, to populate the earth. So, where are the races that are supposed to make us all different?

Until humans decided to rebel against and defy God, there were no nations. They were all one race with one language.

Genesis 11:1-2, 4-9 NIV
[1] “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. [2] As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there…
[4]… Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” [5] But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. [6] The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. [7] Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” [8] So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. [9] That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”

It’s a lie, a hoax, and those who pull the race card use it to justify the lie and to hide the hatred, prejudice, and hypocrisy, not colour, that are in their hearts and that separate people from one another. They are liars because they base their arguments, even their policies, values, and beviour on a lie, creating artificial boundaries that don’t exist.

Why is the racist lie so devilish? People believe it because it’s the narrative used to get what they want. In my country, as in many, those who rule hide behind “the injustices of the past” of the white “race” to excuse and justify their evil desires…the power to control and even to possess what is not rightfully theirs. Why not just evil and misguided people?

So, what is the answer to the artificial boundaries human dishonesty has spawned? In Jesus’ day, the great divide was Jew and everyone else bundled together under the omnibus title of “Gentile”. Greeks, Romans, Samaritans, and anyone else who was regarded as their enemy, fell under the category. Even the use of the word “Gentile” was like a red rag to a bull.

After his arrest for supposedly taking a Gentile into the temple, Paul told his story to the hostile Jewish mob who had apprehended him.

Acts 22:1-2, 21-22 NIV
[1] “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.” [2] When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said… “

… and Paul told his story until he mentioned the word” Gentiles”…

[21] “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” [22] The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”

Such was their hatred for Gentiles that the Jews disregarded their own Scriptures which predicted their Messiah’s role to bring the
Gentiles into God’s salvation covenant.

Isaiah 49:6 NIV
[6] “…He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus came to redeem and restore the whole world to fellowship with the Father. How would He accomplish so great a task in the face of such bitter hatred and division? How would He overcome the artificial boundaries caused by so-called racism?

In a nutshell, Paul gives us the answer. “Race” was not the problem. Hatred, enmity, hostility in the heart was!

Ephesians 2:11-18 NIV
[11] Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision”…
[12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, [16] and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. [17] He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

The cross of Jesus dealt the death blow, not to racism but to the sin in the heart that uses racism as its expression. No laws or policies, no education, not efforts to eradicate the so-called “culture of racism”, can cure the evil in the heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV
[9] “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

Jesus did it by living to fulfil the law and dying to take our penalty for not fulfilling the law.

Colossians 2:13-15 NIV
[13] “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, [14] having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. [15] And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Racism is a phantom, a ghost that does not exist except in the minds of evil people. There is no cure and never will be for racism, which is an invention of evil hearts, outside of the cross. No law or education can change that!

When Jesus changes the heart, racism fades like the morning mist, from thought and action.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
[17] “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! “

Faith in Christ changes hearts, destiny, and citizenship.

Ephesians 2:12-13 NIV
[12]”…Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Galatians 3:26-28 NIV
[26] “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, [27] for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Black and white, Jew and Arab, East and West, are reunited as one in Christ. We have a new identity regardless of clan, tribe, or nation. We are all children of God. We have a new culture as citizens of heaven…

Galatians 5:6 NIV
[6] “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

Beloved children of God, God’s Word is truth. Let us who are His children cancel the lie by living by the truth.

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 10

Bible Study, ,

THE GOD-MAN – HIS MOTIVE AND MESSAGE

Why has God done all this for us? Why has the God-man endured so much for us?

John 1:14 NIV
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He came to reveal grace and truth.

Grace! What is grace? A word difficult to define but packed full of meaning!

Some define grace by an acrostic…great riches at Christ’s expense. Others say that grace is God’s unmerited favour. These definitions may be true but they are completely inadequate to express anything like God’s grace.

Let’s try to explain rather than define grace. Grace is all of God’s divine attributes…goodness, kindness, mercy, truth, righteousness, justice, wisdom, power, sovereignty…woven together, encased in “chesed”, His covenant love, to form His divine DNA, the blueprint of His being.

Whatever God is, says, and does is because of grace and expresses itself in grace, His action towards us.

He saved us from our sin because of grace.

Ephesians 2:8 NIV
[8] “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

Grace brought Jesus to earth to rescue us from sin and death…

Romans 5:15 NIV
[15] But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Through Jesus’ death, we have a new position…a standing in grace… the very foundation of our relationship with God as sons and daughters.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

…and so we can go on. Everything we now are and receive is through and by God’s grace.

Grace is God in action, appearing on every page of Scripture, lighting up His interaction with humans with the glory of who He is. The God of…love, peace, righteousness, truth…and much more, are who He is. Grace stands tall as both the motive and the power behind and through which all His goodness comes to us.

1 Peter 5:10 NIV
[10] “And THE GOD OF ALL GRACE, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Grace underpins everything God says and does for us. Grace energises every promise He has made to save, restore, and renew humankind.

Let’s examine just a few of the myriad things grace does because He is the God of all grace.

John 1:16 – 17 NIV
[16] “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the embodiment of God’s grace, the fullness of His revelation as the God-man. He is the messenger and the message of grace.

2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
[9] “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

His gave us His riches and took our poverty!

The story of grace, at its most revealing and glorious, is the story of the God-man, stepping out of His supreme place in heaven beside the Father and the Spirit, down…a human baby, down…a servant, down…a condemned criminal, down…a dead body, for us. That’s grace…not just an idea, a philosophy, a teaching or even a title. Grace is motive and action. Grace drives the action and grace is the action that saved and saves us from or in every situation sin and our sinfulness has dumped on us.

Grace is woven into the story of God and humans. Grace is the power to rescue and to change impossible situations.

I have one such situation in mind that epitomises the awesome truth of grace.

The Apostle Paul was called, among all the facets of his ministry, to suffer…and suffer he did. The worst of his suffering was not physical. It was the pain inflicted on him when his own people rejected him, just as they had rejected his Master. They had murder on their minds. They hounded him from city to city, country to country, always looking for an opportunity to cancel him and his message.

In desperation, Paul cried out to the Lord for deliverance Perhaps his natural response was for God to cancel his enemies like they cancelled him, just as David had often prayed centuries before.

“They are a thorn in my side, Lord. Please remove them.”

God said, “No! I have a better plan.” Grace! You see, thorns are there to prick. Why? Pricking deflates the hot air bubble of pride…”I don’t need you, God.”

Grace changes hearts, not circumstances. Paul needed a new attitude, not “Take the thorn away, so that I can carry on with my life,” but, “Thank you for the thorn that constantly reminds me how weak I am and how much I need your grace.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
[9] “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” THEREFORE, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

That’s what grace is and that’s what grace does.

So, the God-man came to us in our plight… cut off from God and doomed to eternal death. He came, fully equipped (Greek – “pleres” – complete or fully occupied) with grace and truth, to transform a hopeless situation into the hope of transformed lives and destiny… today, tomorrow, and forever.

Grace provides the motive and the means for the God-man to intervene for us, to become and to apply the message that God is for us not against us. God did something we can never do. He took away our sin and reconciled us to Himself. He reinstated us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. He transforms us into the image of His own Son, He puts muscle to His message…all because of grace and by grace.

This grace is all-sufficient. Grace can do anything and be anything we need for Him to complete His plan. All grace requires to come to our aid is a humble spirit, faith in His promises and “AMEN” in our need.

James 4:6 NIV
[6] “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

More grace? More than what? More than anything that stands in the way of our becoming who we are, submissive and obedient sons and daughters of God.

“… Full of grace and truth…” Grace and truth…God’s complete arsenal of weapons to defeat the enemy of our souls, to protect us from the rsvages of our sin nature, and to transform us into the likeness of the God-man, Jesus.

So, Peter cousels us… against the backdrop of the lies and deception from the systems of this world that assault and lure us to go it alone, be our own God, do our own thing…

2 Peter 3:17-18 NIV
[17] “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. [18] But GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 9

Bible Study, ,

THE GOD-MAN – THE PRISON

Escape from prison! That must surely be uppermost in the mind of every prisoner. They devise the most detailed and daring plans to escape from their incarceration, only to be caught and caged again, in another set of walls. Their so-called “freedom” is now bondage to fear, the fear of being apprehended again.

This mirrors people’s attitudes in life! Whether their prison is of their own making… the consequences of foolishness… or the imprisonment others force on them, their passion is the same. They want to be free!

Some think the way to freedom is to cancel the rules. Others try to dodge the rules or to outrun their consequences. None of these “solutions” work.

People don’t understand that their bondage is not in circumstances. Changing circumstances, even moving to another country, doesn’t equal freedom. It only changes the environment of one’s imprisonment. No matter where you go or what you do, your prison walls are still around you and will go with you.

What, then, is the real nature of our imprisonment?

I have discovered, in the pages of Scripture, that the terrible and inescapable chain that binds us is fear. It’s the prison we live in because of who we are and what we have done.

Fear has two faces, the fear of death and the fear of punishment. Fear is written into the DNA of our fallen humanity…

Adam himself voiced his reason for hiding from God.

Genesis 3:8-10 NLT
[8] “When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. [9] Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” [10] He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

We are God’s creation. Despite evolution’s lie, His ownership, in His moral law, is written into our conscience. We know what is right and wrong from our earliest years. His ownership demands obedience and accountability, both of which are out of reach for all humanity because of the sin nature and the sin in us. So, we live with fear. Fear is the accuser that we either deny or we try to escape in ways that drive us deeper into sin’s clutches.

Fear has two arms that grip us and enslave us every day of our existence, and colour our opinion of our Creator. We run from Him as our Judge, not to Him as our Saviour.

One arm is the fear of death.

Those who don’t know Him hate Him because they know that He exists and that He is a just God. They know that death will get them, and after death, judgment. They try by every means to escape Him, even denying His existence in the face of undeniable evidence, as if cancelling Him will disconnect us from Him.

Romans 1:18-20 NIV
[18] “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [19] since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. [20] For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

The Bible says that atheists deny that God exists because they love their sin. They have one passion, to live as they please without accountability.

Psalms 14:1 NIV
[1] “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”

Atheists know that judgment is coming but do all they can to dodge it.

Psalms 50:17, 21-22 NIV
[17] “You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you…
[21] When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. [22] “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you…”

The other arm is the fear of punishment.

Punishment is the inevitable outcome of justice. God has not chosen rehabilitation. He knows this is not only impossible but nonsense because of our sin nature. His holiness demands just retribution for rebellion against His sovereignty.

Although these two arms, fear of death and fear of punishment, are not expressly explained in Scripture, we have, by the way they are mentioned, the powerful truth that it was Jesus, in His atoning sacrifice, that brought the antidote to fear.

How did Jesus deal with the fear of death?

Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV
[14] “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— [15] and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

As the God-man, He took death on the chin for us. It’s as simple as that. The God-man died in our place. He could do that precisely because He was an honest-to-goodness, true-blue human just like us. He was not born of a sinless virgin, as some believe, but neither was He born a sinner. He was the last Adam, born with the nature of the first Adam as God had created him.

Jesus died the death of a sinner, but rose from death as the conqueror of sin and death. He was the first of the harvest of all mankind to rise from the grave, some to glory and some to everlasting shame and darkness.

1 Corinthians 15:20, 22-23 NIV
[20] “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
[22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. [23] But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”

Even now, Jesus reigns in glory until He overcomes all His opposition…

1 Corinthians 15:25-26 NIV
[25] “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

This glorious truth prompted the Apostle Paul to write…

1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 55-57 NIV
[51] “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— [52] in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed…
[55] “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” [56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God Himself confirmed this victory cry!

Revelation 21:4 NIV
[4]” ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Death to death and the fear of death! It is this truth that frees us from the fear of death.

And what of the fear of punishment?

Jesus has equally, effectively, destroyed the fear of punishment. Truth, again, dispels that fear.

Romans 5:1 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Peace with God replaces fear.

Romans 8:1-4 NIV
[1] “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, [4] in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Did you get that?

Jesus died in our place to cancel our debt and to silence the voice of the condemnation our sin deserved. No punishment for us because justice has been served!

So, what of the fear of punishment that still lurks in our hearts? Like a stalker who trails another in secret, fear is a stalker that needs to be exposed.

God has provided, with one stroke of His pen, the glorious antidote to the fear of punishment.

1 John 4:18 NIV
[18] “There is no fear in love. But PERFECT LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

What is this love that evicts fear from our hearts?

Jesus tells us the answer.

John 15:9 NIV
[9] “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love….”

…and asked the Father to make it happen.

John 17:20-21, 23, 26 NIV
[20] “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, [21] that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me…
[23] I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me…
[26] I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

It’s our faith in the unconditional, indestructible love that God has for us that will deal the final death-blow to fear. Since nothing in heaven, on earth, or even in hell, can separate us from that love, we are safe, secure, and unconquerable in this life through that love that glues us like superglue, to God Himself.

Romans 8:31, 35, 38-39 NIV
[31] “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

To be continued…

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 8

Bible Study, ,

THE GOD MAN, THE WAY OF TRUTH

Mark 6:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

Why were these “sheep” running after Jesus? Why did He see them as “sheep without a shepherd”? How did He show them compassion?

These questions are all answered in Jesus Himself.

Tied to the leadership of the Pharisees, God’s people were in perpetual bondage, becoming more entangled and more enslaved as time went on by laws and rituals that could never set them free. The more their “shepherds” enforced the law and all their additions, the more helpless the sheep became. Their own shepherds were lost in bondage to their own sin and, in turn, by lies and deception, they led their sheep into deeper confusion and fear.

There was only one way to set them free…truth…and only one person who had the power to set them free, Jesus, the one who is truth.

The sheep, it seems, saw something in Jesus, heard something from Him, that drew them to Him. As even the temple guards testified, when sent to arrest Him, “No one speaks like this man!” Great crowds trailed after Him, from towns, villages, and countryside, to hear His words. They recognised, in His teaching, truths their souls yearned to hear.

So, Jesus gave them His weapon to destroy lies and His tool to set them free, His truth! He did not choose to battle their sin, or to fight their family issues or their marital conflcts, or even their issues with Rome or their religious overlords. He saw their pain. He felt their despair. He heard their soundless cries…their undefined and unspoken longings.

They were a mixed bunch. Some hung on every word, others examined, criticised, judged His words. Some were delighted, others enraged by His teachings. Some attacked Him, only to be confronted with the truth they hated to hear. Jesus warned…

John 12:47-49 NIV
[47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [48] There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”

To those who listened with earnest hearts, He said,

John 8:31-36 NLT
[31]…“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. [32] And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Still others, incensed by His implication, argued…

[33] “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

With the insight of a skilled physician, Jesus diagnosed…

[34]…“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [35] A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Though the people were not aware of it, their dilemma was neither bondage to Rome nor enslavement to their false shepherds. Their bondage was much deeper, within themselves…to sin that enslaved their hearts as surely as prison doors locked wrongdoers into prison cells. The freedom they craved was not freedom from external forces like Roman overlords or religious slave-drivers, but freedom from their own self-destructive lives. As much as they tried, no amount of rule-keeping could ever or had ever achieved real freedom.

Only one thing could ever set them free – truth! Truth frees heart and conscience, regardless of earthly circumstances. When the heart is free, there is nothing of consequence in daily lives that can mar the inward peace of true freedom.

Jesus knew that what the shepherdless people needed was not another shepherd, not another equally lost person to lead them, or more lies to confuse them or more laws to enslave them.

They needed truth to enlighten them, the Good Shepherd of truth to guide them, to show them the way…to freedom from guilt, shame, and fear…to the Father, the only place of perfect peace.

The wisdom of His compassion amazes me. Jesus could have shown His compassion by engaging in great healing and deliverance campaigns. He could have sent His disciples across the land, calling people to “Come and get your miracle!”

Oh, He healed, but not primarily to relieve His people of suffering. He cast out demons, but not specifically to free them from demonic oppression. His works were always bound to His identity and His mission. He came as king to usher in the rule of God and to show His people, by fulfilling every prophetic fingerprint in the Old Covenant, that He was the legally appointed king of God’s kingdom. His works were done to confirm His identity and to build trust in His words so that they would believe in Him and experience the truth that would set them free.

John 14:11 NIV
[11] “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

God’s nation, for centuries since Abraham, their founder, had been led astray by a lying, deceiving usurper and his minions. The devil had convinced them, despite God’s intimate involvement with them, that they could sidestep God’s rule and set up their own laws and standards. In fact, the less they were obliged to live righteously, the better, so they thought.

Together with the surrounding nations and under the influence of their kings and rulers, they threw off God’s protective yoke, worshipped the gods of their imagination, and sank into the worst of depravity. The results were catastrophic.

Instead of reflecting God’s nature to the surrounding godless nations by obedience to His covenant, they reflected the wickedness of the gods they worshipped. Depraved, enslaved, and condemned, they came under the same wrath as those who were not in covenant with God.

The descendants of these same people dragged behind them, like a ball and chain, the terrible legacy of their ancestors. Then, to add to their enslavement, they were ruled by religious bullies who enforced on them more rules than they had ever tried to escape in their past.

Yes, Jesus had chosen His fight, not to confront every issue but to give His people the keys that would open their own prison doors. The prophet Isaiah predicted that He open prison doors and set them free.

Isaiah 61:1 NIV
[1] “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… “

It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus’ heart was broken for His people because of their suffering. To them, the God they were supposed to worship had become, under the influence of their” shepherds”, nothing but the head “bully” of the bullies they feared, a strict disciplinarian who waited to catch them out at every turn for breaking His laws.

There was only one thing that could rescue them from this load of lies they had come to believe. Truth! No amount of healing, deliverance or even feeding at Jesus’ expense could save them from their plight.

So, Jesus “taught them many things”, the epitome of His compassion.

To be continued…