In announcing the redemption of His people from Babylon, the
Lord reaches back to the beginning of time and the beginning of the nation,
their redemption from Egypt. He points
to those two events, the first at the beginning of the passage and the second
at the end of it, to establish His credentials and His trustworthiness. In between the two, they get a short lecture
about what might have been had they listened and paid heed to Him. If they had been obedient their peace would
have been like a river, their righteousness like the waves of the sea and they
would see the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham regarding their numbers,
they would be like the sand at the sea, innumerable. In spite of their failure to keep covenant,
His love and His covenant are everlasting so He will again redeem His wayward
people. Grace and mercy are keys to the
relationship as they must be in any relationship.
The people go from astonishment at Jesus' teaching to taking
offense in one simple move. They ask the
question where did this man get this teaching to answering it for themselves by
reference to His upbringing and their answer is the rationale for offense. What they know becomes an impenetrable
barrier to truth. They don't know what
they think they know. As He continues
teaching in the villages, Jesus sends out the disciples two by two to take
charge of unclean spirits. The disciples
are obedient to the commands given them and see healings happen, deliverance
from the unclean spirits. Who are these
men and where did they get their power?
They were fishermen, tax collectors and zealots, a random collection of
men who became extraordinary through contact with Jesus and being filled with
the Holy Spirit, obedience to the commandments given them. Jesus has come to redeem those who believe and
obey.
The churches in Judea know something about Paul but they
glorify God because of him. They glorify
God because of the change the Lord worked in Paul, he once was lost but now is
found and they accept the change for what it is, an amazing work of God. Paul continues his personal story by saying
that early in his ministry he went to Jerusalem but didn't see any of the
leaders of the church except James who is now dead, and then didn't return for
fourteen years. He paid that visit to
make sure that the Gospel he was preaching among the Gentiles that salvation
was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone was true and that the
apostles had no issues with his ministry.
Even though no one taught him these things, his message was correct, it
was from God. If that is so, then a
"gospel" at variance with that is no gospel at all and no truth at
all. Self-reliance, keeping a law, is a
failed enterprise, God has redeemed His people in mercy and grace.
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