Tag Archives: Jesus

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He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

This time around, one line stood out: "Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace."

Peace is a big word.

In this passage, "peace" is peace with God.

God is a God of love; He is also a God of justice. That's not contradictory: perfect love demands perfect justice, and that doesn't mean justice for me, it means justice for everybody.

Justice doesn't mean that the person who wronged "me" gets what they deserve: it means that the God of justice demands payment for each sin committed.

Only when justice is satisfied, can peace begin.

Jesus was pierced for our transgression; THAT chastisement brought the elect peace with the Father.

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“When we think of Christ dying on the cross we are shown the lengths to which God’s love goes in order to win us back to himself. We would almost think that God loved us more than he loves his Son! We cannot measure such love by any other standard. He is saying to us: I love you this much.

The cross is the heart of the gospel. It makes the gospel good news: Christ died for us. He has stood in our place before God’s judgment seat. He has borne our sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us through the cross. He persuades us that he loves us.”

~Sinclair Ferguson

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A couple of terms were introduced, both of which color the system's view of eschatology.

(note: the descriptions, as I understand them, apply only to end times.)

Dispensationalism: all things are interpreted literally, all promises to Abraham and David are yet to be fulfilled (no promises have already been fulfilled)

Preterist: most of all prophecies concerning the end times have already been fulfilled.

Riddlebarger explains that neither of these views are correct.

When Scripture uses figurative language, interpret it figuratively.  Dispensationalism takes the figurative and forces it into literalism.

Prophetic passages can also contain a "has passed, but has yet to come to pass" dual meaning.

Riddlebarger helps us understand that there were anti-Christ types before Jesus walked this earth, and that there have been many anti-Christs, and there will be more.

Therefore, since Antichrist has already come, remains with us today, and will come again, understanding the tension between the already and the not yet is the key to understanding what the doctrine of Antichrist actually entails, and understanding this tension enables us to know how we are to combat him.

Kim Riddlebarger. Man of Sin, The: Uncovering the Truth about the Antichrist (p. 36). Kindle Edition.

 

 

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I started reading "Journeying Through Lent with Matthew" and the author wrote about the ashes that were used when he went through the ceremony with his congregation.

We are dust.  Nothing.

If we are nothing, what (or Who) makes us something?

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:39 (ESV)

If I determine to focus on the Giver of Life, what becomes of me?

at the end of the daily devotional,

But the cross remains, marking us invisibly and indelibly.  Jesus knew:  the death of self is the path to the resurrection and the life.

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I generally start out Lent with a determination.  Last year I gave up wheat.  I had to think about what I put into my mouth, read labels and I realized how little thought I gave to what I ate.

this year - a sacrifice and a discipline.

candy (this is hard) and blogging every day.

So far, so good.

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“Preach The Gospel At All Times; When Necessary, Use Words” falsely attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

It’s right up there with such classics as “Give someone your phone number; when necessary use numerals” or “Give someone a meal; when necessary use food.”
The saying is much loved by those who think that Christianity is more about what Jesus would do than that which Jesus has done.  Borrowed from MGPCPASTOR.

The more I hear/read it, the more I want it erased from the memories of everybody who has had it inflicted on them.

What does it mean?

WORKS - ARE the Gospel.  If I work hard enough, well enough, loving enough...the person for whom I am working, will find salvation without my using words.  If you're doing it right, you won't need words.

salvation by osmosis.

My good deeds is your good news...and that means you're screwed.

News flash:  the "good news" is not about what I can do, it's about what Christ has done.

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Jonathan Dodson, Resurgence blog, references a book, "God Is Not One," by  Stephen Prothero.

The basis of the book is good - but if we are going to compare religions that don't look very much like Christianity, I believe it is even more important to look at religions that DO look very much like Christianity.

On Page 12 of his book, Prothero writes:

And so it goes with all the world's religions.  Christians align themselves with Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, and fast-growing Mormonism may well be emerging as Christianity's fourth way.

This is a problem.  Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism have a few things in common, that Mormonism does not share.

  • The Trinity
  • Christ as eternally existent, not a created being
  • the mortality of man (we do not become gods, with our own planets
  • God the Father as eternally existent, not a created being
  • salvation by grace (compared to "we are saved by grace AFTER ALL THAT WE HAVE DONE."

Mormonism is not Christianity.  To blur that line, to put the gospel on that line...believing in a 'different Jesus' - Mormonism's Jesus - could have eternal consequences.

via a post at The Resurgence.

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My reading for the day...

It struck me that in this chapter God, through the prophet Nathan, promised that the throne of David would last forever.

God's Word will not fail...

Even as we speak, the Son of David...Jesus...is sitting on the throne above, at the right hand of the Father...

"Before the Throne of God Above" (my version by Sojourn)

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

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the more I get into it, the less I'm sure it matters how we say it.

Gospel:  Good News.  The power of salvation for those who believe.

(update 1)

I found this: “Ten reasons NOT to ask Jesus into your heart”.

I would submit that it's not the "asking Jesus into your heart" that's the problem.  It's the leading an unbelieving person in "the formula" for the sake of following the formula.

The writer says that people who pray this prayer backslide.

I would reply...people who don't pray that prayer may backslide also.  You would have a hard time convincing me that it was the prayer that did it, not the idea that perhaps (whatever they said at the time of their "conversion") it was the person that was at fault.

The formula, "I'm sorry for my sins, please forgive me and be my Savior" is just as much a "formula".  And it can fail just as badly.

Reason number 10: People who ask Jesus into their hearts are not saved and they will perish on the Day of Judgment.

The writer says that is "scary" to him.  To me, scary is judging the salvation of another person based on the specific words they used on the day they turned to Jesus and not what is in their hearts.

There are a few things that I remember from my childhood...one of them is telling my mom that I wanted to ask Jesus into my heart.  She asked, "Why?".  I was able to articulate that I was sorry for my sins and I wanted Jesus to save me.

And she led me in that "sinner's prayer".

Does that mean that I am not saved and I will perish on the Day of Judgment?  Of course not and that's why I think it's important to look at the behavior, beliefs and reasoning of the person...not the formula that they're using.

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Is it important to teach belief and repentance?  YES!  it is vital.

But to bluntly state that those who pray the sinner's prayer are lost...that smacks so much of 'everybody who doesn't do it just like I do are heathens' that it makes me very uncomfortable.

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Satan takes God's Word...

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. (Psalm 91:11-13)

and then He uses it...

...and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
"'He will command his angels concerning you,'
"'On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"

It is when we hear the words..."Did God REALLY say..." that we need to put our guard up.  Perhaps Satan didn't realize at the time that the passage he was using to tempt our Lord was part of a prophecy about himself.

You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

When Satan was tempting Christ...he was reminding Jesus (not that He didn't already know) that the tempter would be defeated.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel." (Gen 3:15)

And Christ (outside of time and space, knowing what would be written in Scripture)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan is an expert at deception...we need to be sober-minded and watchful.  That doesn't mean "don't have fun"...it means that we should be aware that Satan will use whatever he can to draw us away from the Strong Tower