As we move into the letter to the Galatians, we see the issue of circumcision come to the forefront. This demand that believers should be circumcised is a lethal distortion from from the grace of God freely given to all people who believe in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in his resurrection. The prophet Jeremiah announced this new covenant with men and women. This covenant is not based on the efforts of men and women to win favor with God. It is God’s gift to mankind, based on his mercy and grace. “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34) On the road to Damascus, God chose Paul to spread this Good News to the Gentiles. But everywhere he went with this message of God’s grace and mercy, the followers of Judaism wanted circumcision to accompany the Good News. Paul was strongly opposed to any addition to the freedom Christ’s salvation brings to people. Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! The plan of God to redeem people should not be altered in any way. Later on in chapter one we understand why Paul was so adamant about what he was teaching to the Gentiles. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12) Christ himself revealed what was planned in the heart of God from the beginning of time: to restore men and women back to him through the works of Jesus Christ, his Son. Paul begins this letter to the Galatians with what God desires for them in their lives, grace and peace. Without Christ in their lives, they are lost in the darkness of Galatia, bound for eternal judgement. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. (Galatians 1:3-5) This theme of the world being dark and sinful is seen throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus called his generation wicked and adulterous. John the Baptist referred to the religious leaders of the Jews as vipers. The prophets constantly warned the Israelites about impending judgment by the hand of God because of their adulterous and wicked affairs. This wickedness of mankind has been evident ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, so a Savior, a Redeemer, was needed to rescue men and women from their sinful state. At Jesus’ crucifixion we see the culmination of God’s plan to rescue people from their sinfulness and restore them to himself. Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28-30)
What is finished? The story of redemption is finished. The reason for Jesus’ existence is finished. A perfect man had to be sacrificed for the restoration to God of all mankind, for evil had penetrated the hearts of men and women. Nothing could wipe away this eternal stain of rebellion to God’s authority other than a payment of perfection for imperfection. Jesus came to pay that price. He was the Lamb of God, sacrificed as a ransom price to deliver mankind out of the pit of slavery to the devil. To illustrate this remarkable deliverance from slavery to Satan and his demons, God pushed the Israelites into slavery in Egypt. He told Abraham, the man of faith in God’s goodness and faithfulness, that his descendants would experience slavery. In Egypt the Israelites were slaves under the power of Pharaoh, Beelzebul, the prince of demons. God used the death of lambs to deliver the Israelites out of the hands of Pharaoh. The blood of the lambs sprayed over the front doorposts of the Israelites' houses paid the ransom price for the deliverance of those in the household. The lambs' blood announced that slavery was ended; it is finished. The Israelites were free of the yoke of slavery to Pharaoh. THE LAMB OF GOD slain for the sins of mankind made freedom possible for all men and women who would put their trust in Jesus’ work on the cross. Jesus said, “ It is finished!" The design of God for the deliverance of mankind from slavery to sin was completely implemented. Isaiah expressed this design well in chapter 52 and 53. He prophesied of Jesus’ coming to restore men and women to God. — (paraphrased with additions) Many were amazed when they saw God’s servant. He was highly exalted by God. But his face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human. From his appearance, you would scarcely know He was a man. However, He startled many nations. Kings stood speechless in his presence. They saw what they had not been told. --- My servant grew up in God’s presence like a tender green shoot, (in Joseph and Mary’s house). He grew up healthy and strong, filled with wisdom, with God’s favor on him. He was a root in dry ground, with freedom to grow in the knowledge about his Father, God. His appearance was ordinary--nothing beautiful or majestic about him. Nothing in his appearance caused people to be attracted to him. (Only John the Baptist recognized who he really was and he needed a sign to alert him about this man Jesus, for Jesus was just an ordinary man in the midst of the crowd.) (Later on Paul needs a dramatic event to recognize Jesus as at the Messiah.) Jesus was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. (Isaiah 53:3-5) Like one from whom people hidetheir faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and the world did not care that he was rejected by them. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried, our sorrows weighted him down. He wept over his people as he entered Jerusalem in his last days on earth. He wept over their impending sorrow when Jerusalem would be ravished by the Roman army. He cried at Lazarus’ tomb, knowing the futility of humans and their finite lives. We thought Jesus’ troubles were a punishment from God because of his own sins! However, He was pierced for our sins of rebellion. He was beaten for our sins, so we could go unpunished by God for our rebellion against him and his authority. He took our punishment so that we could go without punishment. He was crushed by God as a replacement for our wicked deeds. He was whipped, so we could be healed; his back was lacerated for our healing. Through Jesus’ suffering, God healed us of ALL our sins without us experiencing punishment for our own sins. He took our place at the end of the whip. All deserved the woodshed of discipline for all have all gone astray from God’s holiness. But the woodshed was made for Christ and not for us—He alone experienced the place of judgment, the cross. He became cursed because of our sins. The Lord laid on Jesus the sins of all mankind; ill-treated for us, ridiculed for us, manhandled for us. He as the Lamb of God would be slaughtered. Even though Jesus knew He would be slaughtered, He did not defend his right to be left alone. Unjustly condemned He was led to the cross. No one cared that He would die young without descendants to carry on his name. He would disappear as if He never lived. His footprint in life would be carried away by the sands of the time. In midstream in his life, Jesus would be taken to the grave. He had done no wrong. He never deceived anyone. No guile was in him, but He died as a criminal.
It was God’s plan to crush him for the salvation of mankind. God desired to cause him immense grief, even though He did no wrong, only good. The Son of Man was the perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of a wayward people. Only a perfect human could transition the imperfect to wholeness in God’s sight. Because of his sacrifice for the sins of many, He will have MANY descendants with his name written on them. In the heavenly domain Jesus will enjoy the presence of his brothers and sisters who were bought by his blood, the LAMB OF GOD. The Galatians were retreating from this blessed message of the Good News. Paul understood well how much danger they were putting themselves in if they failed to trust in the work of God that was planned from the beginning of time. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Jesus is the beginning and the end. He is the wordof God and in him everything was created. The plan of God revolved completely about Jesus as the Lamb of God. Salvation comes only through him; restoration to God comes only through him. Our breakfast companions seek Jesus alone for your peace and comfort in life. He alone will lead you out of your discomforts in life into God’ peace. The world is dark and very difficult to understand. All societies on earth use a variety of means to find peace and meaning in life. They use special techniques and exercises to find peace. They try to meditate deeply on good things, so they might find a few minutes of rest for their souls. And many in every society try to solve their anxiety and their fears by drugs of all kinds, of spirits of all kinds. All of these methods to understand and cope with the issues of life are tried by many in every society. But as Paul starts out in this letter to the Galatians, peace starts and ends in the grace of GOD. Your works, your thinking, your ways to cope will not bring what you desire, peace with God and peace with your fellow man. Only God can give you that through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27) Therefore, turn your life and heart over to God. You will know as Jesus said, IT IS FINISHED. The work for eternal life with God is finished. Now what is left for each of us is to believe in his work and not our own. Love, Dad and Mom
Mini were made and they couldn't understand what was being written so God gave them up for his own purposesMini were made and they couldn't understand what was being written so God gave them up for his own purposes
No comments:
Post a Comment