No Wiggle Room Allowed – Part 2
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted [Isaiah 53:4].
We concluded our last study by noting how Jesus came on the scene of history doing many good works. The sick were healed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the blind given sight. That was the good side of the coin. Now let’s take a gander at the bad side of the coin.
The bad side was that He suffered terribly from scorn, derision, persecution, and finally martyrdom. And here’s the thing, dear friends. Jesus didn’t take the bows when the good side of the coin was on the ascendant. No, but instead He gave the glory to His Father in heaven. And when the bad side of the coin had its day, He neither complained nor blamed.
Alas, but sinful man back in the day failed to take his cue from this holy behavior by the Son of man. Instead he continued deluging Him with the blame for every wrong He faced, while portraying the good He did as bad. Sinful man redefined the good side of the coin as “bad” and the bad side as “good”. No wonder they crucified the Lord of glory!
Isaiah foretold this roughly 550 years before it occurred. Methinks even the Hubble telescope could not see that far! But Isaiah did. So how’d he do it? Simply put, the Holy Spirit revealed it to Him. The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Godhead, so He knows everything always.
In the verse quoted to start this study Isaiah expressed this predilection of sinful man most incisively. On His part Jesus “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Two sides are involved here:
1. Jesus
2. sinful Israel (and by extension sinful Gentiles too)
Jesus suffered and died, but it wasn’t for His own sins. It was for the sins of sinful man. This is known as substitutionary or vicarious atonement. One person suffers punishment on behalf of another.
Notwithstanding this truth, sinful Israel (and we Gentiles too) mocked and contemned Him during His sufferings, claiming He was being punished by God for His own sins. For the good He did they offered Him no appreciation. For the sufferings He bore they affixed the blame to His forehead. From their perspective Jesus could do no right, but He was adept at doing wrong.
We today are confronted with the same choice. Is Jesus never right but always wrong? Or is He always right and never wrong? Those are the only two choices, dear friends. He cannot be partially right and partially wrong. He doesn’t allow us that wiggle room. He claimed He was God. God can never be partially right and partially wrong.
This is the issue confronting every son of Adam today. Make your choice, my friends. Your eternity rides on which one you choose.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
We concluded our last study by noting how Jesus came on the scene of history doing many good works. The sick were healed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the blind given sight. That was the good side of the coin. Now let’s take a gander at the bad side of the coin.
The bad side was that He suffered terribly from scorn, derision, persecution, and finally martyrdom. And here’s the thing, dear friends. Jesus didn’t take the bows when the good side of the coin was on the ascendant. No, but instead He gave the glory to His Father in heaven. And when the bad side of the coin had its day, He neither complained nor blamed.
Alas, but sinful man back in the day failed to take his cue from this holy behavior by the Son of man. Instead he continued deluging Him with the blame for every wrong He faced, while portraying the good He did as bad. Sinful man redefined the good side of the coin as “bad” and the bad side as “good”. No wonder they crucified the Lord of glory!
Isaiah foretold this roughly 550 years before it occurred. Methinks even the Hubble telescope could not see that far! But Isaiah did. So how’d he do it? Simply put, the Holy Spirit revealed it to Him. The Holy Spirit is God, the third Person of the Godhead, so He knows everything always.
In the verse quoted to start this study Isaiah expressed this predilection of sinful man most incisively. On His part Jesus “bore our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Two sides are involved here:
1. Jesus
2. sinful Israel (and by extension sinful Gentiles too)
Jesus suffered and died, but it wasn’t for His own sins. It was for the sins of sinful man. This is known as substitutionary or vicarious atonement. One person suffers punishment on behalf of another.
Notwithstanding this truth, sinful Israel (and we Gentiles too) mocked and contemned Him during His sufferings, claiming He was being punished by God for His own sins. For the good He did they offered Him no appreciation. For the sufferings He bore they affixed the blame to His forehead. From their perspective Jesus could do no right, but He was adept at doing wrong.
We today are confronted with the same choice. Is Jesus never right but always wrong? Or is He always right and never wrong? Those are the only two choices, dear friends. He cannot be partially right and partially wrong. He doesn’t allow us that wiggle room. He claimed He was God. God can never be partially right and partially wrong.
This is the issue confronting every son of Adam today. Make your choice, my friends. Your eternity rides on which one you choose.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
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