I wonder many times as I am sure others have over the ages, especially since the first appearance of Christ in human form as a man. Which we all know the one aspect was His vicarious death in mans place as the law of the universe required to bring a means for mans correction in the course or finial designation was brought about. This also required man to suffer a kind of death, but not the physical last breath or breaking kind. Breaking from his being accursed to the lake of fiery end. But rather an identification in a kind of death, to the things of this worlds order or disorder and chaos. This can be known by a study of Genesis chapter 1 and the use of words there found. This was all brought through Christ Jesus' sacrifice in human form and the spilling of the blood of man which is spilled in child birthing. Why there? Because with the blood there is also water spilled in the process. This combination is seen when the spears tip pierced the sack that surrounded mans heart, when at death by suspension, as from a cross, water fills the chest-cavity. Causing a kind of drowning by water. And water and blood flowed from His side, as when GOD created woman from the rib of man, man being His first created form of Himself when HE a Spirit is known. Now comes another question with all of this being fact, what was Christ's mission? To find the answer to this quest is the focus of my seeking, for today. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his teaching on Grace and mans humility. And then a look at Christ's mission, making use of the ESV translation and the whole while under the rule of Christ my LORD within this body of clay. Much like the clay pot which held the lamp of the LORD, used by Gideon and his small band of solders used to destroy Israel's enemies. Keep in mind that I am still on the theme of, "can two walk together except they be in agreement and in the beginning, GOD."
"Jesus, the Ultimate Example of Faith"
"And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant . . . (for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength) . . . Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You." (Isaiah 49:5, 8)
"Numerous times throughout these hundreds of meditations, we have examined the relationship of "humility and faith" to "growing in grace or by grace." Such repeated opportunities assist us in apprehending the means of living day by day by Grace. "GOD resists the proud, but gives [His] Grace to the humble . . . we have access by faith into this Grace in which we stand" (James 4:6 and Romans 5:2). For a number of days, we have been considering humility and grace. In a recent meditations, we saw that Jesus and king David are the ultimate example of humility. Now, we turn to give considerable attention to Faith and Grace. Concerning faith, we begin where we left off with humility — with Jesus as our example. Again, we will see that Jesus is the ultimate example of faith.
Our present verses are a prophecy involving the Father and His Son, the Servant Messiah, Who would go forth to provide GOD's gift of salvation. "And now the LORD says, Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant." An angel would eventually announce this prophecy as coming to fulfillment. With the use of "fulfillment," this marks the end of one Age and the beginning of another Age in which Christ is to become our dependency through the Holy Spirit, as seen in Genesis 2.. "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21, notice the term "Israel" is not used here but rather, "His people."). The confession of the Messiah is also given here prophetically. "My God shall be My strength." When the Son would leave heaven for His incarnation, He would function by faith in the Father. The Father's reassuring words affirm this trust in Him. "Thus says the LORD: 'In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You'."
The fact that Jesus lived by faith in His Father was a part of His own teaching ministry. "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner" (John 5:19). Herein, Jesus (who had laid aside the independent exercise of His deity) was exemplifying how man should live in humble dependency upon the faithfulness of GOD."
Christ's Mission,
Matthew 5:17-19 (Jesus is speaking) "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 20:24-28 "When the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."
Luke 4:42-43 "When it was day, He departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them, but Jesus said to them, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of GOD to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose."
Luke 12:49-53 "I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is My distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
Luke 19:1-10 "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
John 3:16-21 (Jesus is speaking) "For GOD so loved the world, that HE gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For GOD did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of GOD. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in GOD."
John 9:35-41 "Jesus heard that they had cast him [the man born blind] out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him. Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near Him heard these things, and said to Him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.'"
John 10:1-10 (Jesus is speaking) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the [implying that He is the true and only door] door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. The stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what He was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
John 12:44-50 "Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him Who sent Me. And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me. [Amos 3:3 and Genesis 1:1-3] I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me."
John 18:33-40 "Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from the world." Then Pilate said to Him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth listens to My voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in Him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" They cried out again, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber."
1Timothy 1:12-17 "I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our LORD, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the Grace of our LORD overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only GOD, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
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