The Suffering Messiah

 The suffering Messiah

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
                                                        Isaiah 53:6 

Christians believe Jesus fulfils the Prophesy of Isaiah 53. That Jesus is the suffering Messiah. The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
It is a concept certainly Jews but I would say most people in the world today can’t understand, the suffering Messiah.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. The Messiah. The saviour of not only the Jews but all mankind.
Matthew records the trial of Jesus. It climaxes with,
“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"  "He is worthy of death," they answered.” Matthew 26:62-65
Even at his trial, undoubtedly knowing those conducting the trial had made up their minds before hand as to his fate Jesus confessed he was the Christ the Son of God.
In doing so Jesus in effect gave his enemies all they needed to pronounce the death penalty.
Someone noted to me something interesting about this point in the trial. The high priest undoubtedly without knowing it became an agent of God.
In very much the same way as the high priest transferred the sins of the people to the scape goat, he was transferring the sins of the world on to Jesus.
Jesus would take upon himself the sins of the world. He would suffer for all mankind.
Isaiah prophesied it this way,
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul,  he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,  and he will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:7-11
Jesus to the Christian is the fulfilment of Isaiah 53 and God says in Isaiah 53:12,
“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,  and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Christians as far as this writer knows are the only ones to believe that Jesus suffered for the sins of the individual.
If one thinks of it is an incredible claim but true.
Not only that but Christians believe that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, that he died and rose again and ascended into heaven where he sits at the thrown of God.
Which is another incredible claim that when thought of makes Christians either very misdirected or the bearers of truth to the world?
The choice is yours. Think about it.

Life's Mission

Life’s Mission.
Read Matthew 4

“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”                                                                                                               Matthew 4:17

The new Century Bible puts the above verse like this, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘change your hearts and lives, because the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

If we truly believe in Christ. If we truly take to heart what Jesus taught it will change our lives.
Our life’s mission will change.
In accepting Jesus in our life, we must admit that He is the Son of God and therefore our King.
If He truly is our king then we must give to him the honour he deserves.
Secondly, we must realize that if Jesus is who He says He is that there is more to life than what we see now. It is what we see by faith. Thus, we must strive to follow our faith and follow Jesus to the fullest of our ability.
Thirdly, we must examine our values and be willing to change. We cannot serve God and man.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we must take on the values of the kingdom of God.
Furthermore ,the world must see the values of God reflected in our lives.
Fourthly, as we allow Christ to work within our life, we will find our priorities change.
Our priorities become those of Christ.
Our principle desire becomes to show God’s love to the whole world.  Be that world our family, friends, neighbours or people in the far flung areas of the globe.

Justice

Justice

“Follow justice and justice alone, 

so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.” 

                 Deuteronomy 16:20

How do we see justice?
One speaker I heard noted that Plato’s Republic implied that justice was an harmonious arrangement within society. An agreement in which everyone had their place. Where those with humble functions are content with being subservient to those above them.
Such is not the case with Biblical justice.
The Bible holds that man was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). With Genesis 2:7 stating:
“the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
Therefore man has within him the very breath of the divine that makes each and every person equal to all others irrespective of their position in society.
Equality is the foundation of all Western democracies. The United States constitution going as  far as to say:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The more one studies the Bible with an open mind, the more one becomes amazed at the treasure house of wisdom.
The Bible has but two points to make.
First and foremost it exists to point man to God. To show man what God requires of him. What man must do to attain salvation.
Secondly, it lays down a code of conduct that God expects man to adhere to with respect to his fellow man.
We serve a God who created the heavens and the earth. A God who despite being the Creator of heaven and earth cares for the individual within His creation.
A God who sent His one and only son not to judge us, but to save us.  As the apostle Paul reminds us:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6
Man’s justice is sadly imperfect, as a result, he condemned many an innocent man. God’s justice, however, is perfect and on that Final Day He will judge the world.
I think Ecclesiastes put it best:
“ Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty  of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil”
    Ecclesiastes 12:13,14
Think about it.

True Happiness

True Happiness
Read Mark 4:1-20

           “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

                                                                                                  Matthew 5:3

Happiness, true happiness comes from looking at life from God’s perspective. A perspective that more often than not is diametrically opposed to the teachings of the world.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus in many ways goes further than the religious leaders of his day.
He notes that there is more to life than just obeying the law.
As believers in Christ, we are called to a moral and spiritual obligation that reflects  the spirit of the law.
The New Century Bible puts Matthew 5:3 in an interesting way,

“They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty,

 for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.”

It is only when an individual recognizes their spiritual poverty that he or she will turn to God.
Sadly, too many people intellectually know God.  They recognize He is real, but they fail to recognize their need to have a personal relationship with Him.
Thus, they miss all that God has to offer them.
Think about it.

Do unto others

Do unto others

“Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets.” 

                                           Matthew 7:12

Question, how would you feel if people constantly told you that you couldn’t do something that was perfectly legal and not hurting anyone?
A Christian example would be the prohibiting the praying of the Lord’s prayer in school.
I know among Christian circles, this is a sore point. Even though, it’s been in place for years now, occasionally you hear it brought up by Evangelists and others in the media.
It’s not that the Lord’s prayer is in anyway wrong. It’s just that the “secular authorities” feel it would be bias to allow the Lord’s prayer and not let prayers of other faiths be prayed.
When it comes to prayers in Public School, I don’t think the faith community at large has a problem with the Lord’s prayer or prayers of other  being spoken, as long as, they are not imposed on them.
The bottom line in all of this ,is the fact that the Public School system is just that public.  It’s a secular institution set up to educate all people irrespective of what they believe.
It is not there to cater to any one belief system.  As one of my friends once noted “in order to function properly, the Public School system must by nature be very clinical.”
It’s the same when it comes to gay marriage.
We live in a secular world, that like the public school system has to be very clinical.
I know the word marriage for me means a great deal. It means a covenant between my wife and myself under God. I also know that applies to some same sex couples.
By entering into marriage we agreed to a life long relationship.
Sadly many in both the Christian and secular world break that covenant every day.
To them it seems that the word marriage is just a word, as one dictionary definition puts it, “concluded primarily to achieve a practical purpose”.
Secular governments don’t recognize what God considers marriage.
They see the facts and only the facts. They don’t set morals, that is the job of faith groups.
Now I say all of that to say this. Christians must be careful what they say and how they say it. Especially when it comes to speaking out against the gay and lesbian community and same sex marriages.
God knows what it right or wrong. It is not up to us as Christians to judge anyone or anything.
Our purpose according to Jesus is to present the gospel to the world.
God knows if same sex marriage is right or wrong. He knows who’s lifestyle is acceptable to Him.
I know some who claim to be Christians who’s lifestyle I think would not be acceptable to God. But it’s not for me to judge.
If the secular authorities want to allow same sex marriage it should matter little to Christians as long as churches opposing for religious reasons are not forced to perform those marriages.
We are blessed to live in a free and democratic society. Still, however, we must remember, we live in a secular society. Governments in a society, such as ours. must do what is best for all people, irrespective of their beliefs.

I think that’s why Jesus said, “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets.” 

                                                                                    Matthew 7:12

He knew that Christians would be living in a secular world. He fully understood that they would be one of many beliefs in a cosmopolitan world.
That what they believed would be one belief system among many.
Jesus knew full well that as the Gospel spread it would enter areas that had no understanding of the Jewish roots from which Christianity came. That Christians would be the minority.
That’s why he made it clear in Matthew 7:1,2 that we are not to judge anyone.
I also think Jesus knew that one day, in parts of the world Christianity would be the dominant religion. That we would have the power to crush those we disagreed with, even in a secular society.
        History is full of examples of people claiming to be Christians trying to destroy those whom they disagree with. This is wrong.

That’s why he made it clear, “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets.” 

                                                                                     Matthew 7:12

I hear in the media Christian leaders coming against persecution. Noting that Christians in many parts of the world are not tolerated even while we in the west tolerate all beliefs.
Perhaps tolerance is a legacy we Christians have given to western nations.
Tolerance and a none judgmental attitude are two of the pillars of Christian belief. The third and most important I believe is reaching out to all mankind with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19,20.

We cannot reach a lost and dying world if we even hint at being intolerant. Nor will we be able to reach the world if we impose on others things we would not want imposed on ourselves.
          Reach out to the Gay and Lesbian society offer them the hand of  friendship. Tell them of the Love of Christ.

Carl, Albert & Martin's Note

Some time ago there was a picture taken from the Voyager space craft of Earth. At the time it was nearly 4 billion miles from Earth. Earth appeared as a tiny dot no bigger than the head of a pin.
The late Carl Sagan (1934-1996) upon seeing the picture noted,
“Look again at the dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it is everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father every hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar” every “supreme leader” every saint and every sinner in the history of our species lived there- 
on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”
Albert Einstein wrote, “Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust. We all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.”
I’ve heard many well educated as will as not so well educated people over the years say there is no God.
I can’t buy into that. The Universe from the expanse of space to the microscopic level is too perfectly in balance for me to believe it happened by chance.
As far as I am concerned there has to be more than just the world we live in. There has to be.
The late Martin Luther King junior said,
“We thank thee for they Church, founded upon thy Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go our and work as though the answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon thee.
Then, finally, help us to realize that man was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity.” 
Someone has said that “I’d rather go through life believing there is a God, than not believing. For believing cost me nothing. But not believing could have eternal ramifications.”
Think about it.

I Went

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. 

Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 

                                                                                                      Isaiah 40:6b

I went through a cemetery the other day. A small one. By Canadian standards it’s old. From the few headstones, I believe it was just one family buried there.
I noticed that all the headstones gave the date of birth and death. Some even gave the age of the person in years months weeks and days. Nothing more.
I assumed that these people were average although one name stood out to me. If I’m right, he’s at least related to a prominent man in Canadian history.  But still, a man few Canadians even know.
Graveyards are cold, quiet places. Places our relatives will place our bodies when we shed them.
When you come into our town, from a certain direction you pass through two large graveyards.
It’s interesting, that as you walk through them, you can hear the traffic. Every now and then you hear a high powered car with its deep, throated muffler rumbling through. It’s almost as though they’re trying to get away. A sort of acknowledgment that one day they will end there.
Sadly, several in those high powered cars have ended their days at a bend midway through.
Their bodies making only a slight detour through a funeral home and church before resting in the quiet yard.
The prophet Isaiah wrote,

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them.

 Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 

                                                                                                      Isaiah 40:6b-8

As I looked through the graveyards, not one name did I recognize as doing anything great.
The walk reminded me of when I was younger. We lived in a house that was a thousand years old.
Nearby was the ruins of an old Abby, of which our house had been a part centuries before. On the grounds of the Abby was an old graveyard.
It’s occupants starting to take up residency around 1000 AD. The Abby, at one point, being one of the richest in England. Some famous historical people were buried there although I can’t seem to remember them now.
I guess, that’s what it’s like for all of us. Someday, the body our soul calls home will end it’s days in a quiet yard. To be eventually forgotten.
I believe it’s the grave of the unknown soldier that has the inscription “known only to God” on it.
Eventually that’s how it will be for all of us. Known only to God.
Ultimately I think that’s all that is important. That we are known only to God.
Which begs the question dear reader do you know God?

There is a Road that leads to salvation in the Bible. Listed below are scripture references that are sign posts on that road.

1/ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
God never sent Jesus into the world to judge the world. That comes later in history. A history that has not yet been written.

2/     God in sending Jesus offered us a gift. A gift of salvation that does not rely on our works
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” 
                                                                         Ephesians 2:8,9

3/ Scripture makes it clear where our righteousness comes from.
"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:22-24

4/     Scripture also makes it clear that if we keep on with our sinful ways. Ways God does not approve of we will face spiritual death.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”                                                                                                               Romans 6:23
5/ Scripture also makes it clear what Jesus said with regards to how we are saved. There is but one way to salvation.
  “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
                   John 14:6
6/ The apostle John writes,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” John 1:12,13

7/ The apostle Paul under scoring what John wrote,
“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved”
                             Romans 10:9-10
A Salvation Prayer

Dear Lord God
I recognize that I am a sinner and fall short of what you want for me. 
I believe that Jesus is your Son. That you sent Him to earth to show me how far you would go to bring me back to you. 
That you sent your one and only Son to die for my sins.
By faith now I accept Jesus as my saviour.
Please forgive me of my sins. Come into my life and make me your child. 
                                              Amen

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Read 1 John 4

“We love because he first loved us. 

If anyone says, “I love God,”

 yet hates his brother, 

he is a liar. 

For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen 

cannot love God. Whom he has not seen.

 And he gives us this command: 

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

                                                                                           1John 4:19-21
Once again John emphasises love. The love of our brother.
Who is our brother? The people that are around us are our brothers.
We must treat all people around us as brothers and sisters. If we don’t how can we rescue them.
We need to in love go to these people and say God loves you. We need to in word and in deed show the love of God the father to our brothers and sisters in the world.
If we don’t have love enough to show to the neighbour next door, or the people we work with then how can we express our love to God.
The love God showed to us through Christ is a sacrificial love. Jesus gave his life for us while we were still sinners.
This is the kind of love we must be willing to show to the world. We must be willing to sacrifice the relationships we have with people for the love of the gospel.
We must in love be able to go to our friends and present the Gospel and if necessary face their rejection.
We must let them see that we are doing it out of love for them.
We must present the Gospel in a way that lets our friends family and acquaintances know we love them.
All to many Christians try to force the gospel on people.  Like wise all to many ‘Christians’ try to place a guilt trip on people. They point out the persons sins. They even go as far as pointing out so called ‘special sins’ as if one sin is worse than another.    I’ve even heard people point out sins that are not sins according to scripture. Such sins are only sins because someone has misinterpreted scripture.
We must avoid all of this.
We must simply present the gospel and leave it for the person to accept or reject.
That is why we must be presenting it in love. In doing so we will given them pause to think and have done our duty to God. It’s that simple.

Something to think about
The lyrics from a Beatles song that states “Love, Love, Love all you really need is Love.”  is the truth.
We need to have the love of God so strong in us that we will be willing to approach even our worst enemy with the love of God and not give him any reason to hate us.
Think about it.