(For some reason we skip forward past John 6 at present,
only to return to it in a couple of weeks.)
I have too often heard it taught that the fear of the Lord
means something other than fear. That is
a false teaching. Here, we see that the
fear of the Lord is an important aspect of our understanding of Him and
us. Without the fear of the Lord we have
no restraint. He is a God of judgment,
even if that judgment is delayed. The people
have long gone astray, not in the last few weeks, sin has more than blossomed,
like kudzu it has taken over. The Lord
has been patient, waiting for the people to return and repent, but now they
have gone too far. They have not been
either fearful or thankful to Him who provides all things. They have coveted more and more of earthly
things and that covetousness has caused them to be deceitful and rapacious,
exploiting their fellow men and caring nothing for justice. They loved stuff more than people and in
doing so they are now under judgment. Sound
familiar?
The temptation presented by his brothers is similar to
satan's temptations presented to Jesus. When
he had fasted for forty days He was hungry so wouldn't a little food made from
stones be okay. If you want people to
know you're Messiah, go where people are, Jerusalem at the time of festivals,
why hide yourself up here in Galilee. They
didn't even believe Jesus was Messiah, just a sibling, at the time, so sarcasm
was the likely tone of this comment. Jesus,
however, isn't moving at their behest or taunt, He waits for the voice of the
Father and ultimately does go to the festival.
His mission, however, isn't what they suggest, it is more a reconnaissance
mission, what are people saying about him.
Those who speak well of him do so privately, it isn't safe to do so in
public, there is danger afoot.
When Paul says that the law speaks to those under the law
that every mouth may be stopped he is saying that it convicts us all of
sin. Those who know good and evil,
because they have the law, have no ability to proclaim their own
righteousness. The argument here is
beautiful, God is just and justifier, all the work is His, all we have to offer
is faith and that itself is a gift from God.
The work of Jesus is complete and free-standing, He is just, without
sin, and also justifier in that the propitiation for sin was made in His blood
poured out for us who are sinners. All He
has ever asked of men is that we turn to Him and away from sin. Why do we deter and detour?
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