The wounds on His hands bled slowly. Pressure from the weight of His body held back the flow. If there had been no other sounds that afternoon, it probably would have sounded like the slow, steady drip off the eaves of a mountain cabin on a damp, foggy night.
Jesus Christ died a violent death. The Bible is a bloody book. This is not pleasant stuff to talk about, and yet I wonder how capable we are of grasping the meaning behind these powerful pictures without encountering their reality in some way.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
– George Bernard (1913)
On a hill called Calvary, two thousand years ago, the Son of God was nailed to a cross for the real sins of the world. There was nothing pretty about the Crucifixion. When stripped of the religious sentiment of two thousand years of symbolism and ornamentation it appears as a gruesome and incomprehensible execution of God’s most treasured human expression of Himself.
Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. Luke 16:16
The operable word here is “everyone.” The Pharisees would say, “Everyone wants to get in? Well that’s just too bad because everyone’s not going to get in, not if we have anything to say about it.” And of course we know that they don’t have anything to say about it, but they thought they did, at least until Jesus came along. That’s why they wanted to get rid of Him.
Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. Luke 16:16
This statement by Jesus must have irked the Pharisees and religious leaders no end. It’s statements like this that got Jesus crucified. These two sentences in this verse present the history of religion in a nutshell.
Our prophetic story for today comes from the book of 1 Chronicles where over 300,000 fighting men of Israel were joining up with David to make him the new king. Chapter 12 lists the tribes of Israel and how many fighting men from each tribe joined up. One tribe that stands out is the tribe of Issachar. “From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.” These leaders were special in that this is the only time this was mentioned. They were not only prepared for battle, they “understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.” They were prophetic warriors. Two hundred quality leaders who were well-versed in what was going on around them, and what God wanted to do.
In a scene out of the adventures of the prophets and kings of the Bible, the prophet Elisha is being hunted down by the king of Aram who is furious with him for always informing the king of Israel of his battle plans. So one morning, Aram’s army finds the house where Elisha is staying and Elisha’s servant panics when he wakes to find that they are surrounded by a mighty army. However Elisha tells his servant calmly, “Don’t be afraid, for there are more on our side than on theirs!”
LEARN to do good.
SEEK justice.
HELP the oppressed.
DEFEND the cause of orphans.
FIGHT for the rights of widows. Isaiah 1:17
There’s no ambiguity in this verse. It comes from the first chapter of Isaiah where God is telling the nation of Israel that He is sick of their meaningless offerings and sacrifices because they are not obeying him with the way they live their lives. He’s disgusted with their celebrations and their ceremony when they are rebellious, evil and sinful in their hearts. Their worship is a sham for show only. That’s when He says that instead of their offerings, He wants them to learn to do good; seek justice; help the oppressed; defend the cause of orphans and fight for the rights of widows. Learn, seek, help, defend and fight. Five things — all verbs — that require action.
A major part of the prophet’s burden is about warning the people. Most of the prophets in the Old Testament made their living warning the children of Israel about God’s punishment that was coming as the result of their disobedience. In the New Testament until the present it’s more about warning of false teachers, of being caught up in false doctrines, factions, the lure of the world, and living an ungodly life.
Truthful words stand the test of time,
but lies are soon exposed.
Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil;
joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12:19-20
Lies, lies, lies. So many lies. Who’s telling the truth? Is anyone?
Who won the 2020 election in the U.S.? Was 9/11 an inside job? Are any mass shootings staged? Can you control the weather from outer space? Even though these things may not affect you directly, they are still unsettling and when they start piling up, it becomes hard to know who you can trust. You begin to feel like everyone and everything — maybe even yourself — is teetering on the edge of reality. This is when we need truthful words, and there is no better source of truthful words than the word of God.
John Fischer The Catch 