20 December 2010

Psalm 61, 62; Isaiah 11.1-9; Revelation 20.1-10; John 5.30-47

What percentage of our judgment is based on wisdom and discernment and what percentage is based on evidence presented to our eyes and ears? We know that Jesus lived by the Spirit, just as Isaiah here prophesies and He has made that same Spirit available to us. We are glad that He judges based on this other sight as we know that there is no health in us that would have been apparent or would today be apparent to anyone to suggest that we should receive the free gift of eternal life. We tend to judge by the wrong things. I ran into a man this week I had not seen for more than a year. He was an agnostic who would not come to church or talk about spiritual things and I had written him off in the sense that I never prayed for him. What he told me was that God had found him in this past year and he was now seeking after the Lord and was immersed in the Word. I wish my judgment had been better and that I had carried the burden of prayer for him so that I could now truly rejoice for us both. Who have you written off that you might begin to pray for today?

Jesus says that the leaders are coming to wrong conclusions because they don’t understand the evidence that is being presented. They think they know what Messiah will do and look like and yet Jesus isn’t doing those things. He cites several sources of evidence that have been presented: John’s testimony, the works, the Father’s testimony and the Word of God. They have refused John, misinterpreted the works and the Word. They are not looking with spiritual eyes but with worldly ones for a Messiah who will restore not His kingdom but their own. Where are we missing Jesus today because we are looking for our kingdom?

This passage has spurred more interpretations than almost any other. Christians argue constantly over the meaning of this passage and the millennial reign of Christ. Is it the answer to the question Peter posed in Acts concerning Jesus’ return and the setting up of the throne? Will there come a time when for a thousand years the kingdom will be established clearly and who will participate in that time? At the end of it all we can say only that we truly don’t know. What is important is that we understand that the battle will rage and that men will continue to reject Jesus but that we must persevere in both faith and life according to that faith if we are to see that second death defeated. We must live by faith and not by sight, never losing hope based on the evidence of our eyes.

Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings!