What was the accusation the Lord leveled against the people
in yesterday's reading? It was that they
disobeyed His voice and had begun to fear the gods of the Amorites. Gideon's own father had erected idols to Baal
and Asherah and the Lord told Gideon that he had to align himself with the Lord
rather than his family if they were worshipping idols. Do you know what these gods and goddesses in
particular were thought to do?
Fertility. Why, in a time when
whatever was grown was being consumed by the Midianites and Amorites were they
worshipping gods of fertility? Idol
worship is rarely logical. Gideon was
afraid of his father and the people of the town so he pulled down the idols at
night. The people, when they discover
who was responsible, call for him to be brought out that he may die. Fortunately, his father chose not to do so
but rather challenged Baal, if he was a god, to contend for his honor on his
own. This act of defiant obedience was
necessary for Gideon if he was to become God's man for this hour. Before the battle though, Gideon wanted to be
sure so he designed the test of the fleece.
Destroying idols is one thing, leading an army against a superior foe is
another.
As Gideon had to be willing to identify with God rather than
his family in order to save the people, so Jesus had to identify with us in
order to save us. He had to step down from what had always been, present to the
Father, God-ness, in order that we might have life. Since the garden there was only death because
there was only sin. We had created idols
that were and idols we hope will be, even Messiah was an idol, the Messiah of
my hopes and dreams rather than the Messiah of God's promise. Jesus dwelt among us as one of us, let that
sink in a few minutes. He wasn't and
isn't just a historical character but God in the flesh living in the world in
order that we might live with Him forever.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was
God…The Word became flesh and dwelt among us is perhaps the most amazing thing
anyone could ever imagine. He did it not
primarily to save us but to glorify God for who He is, to vindicate Him against
all slanders of men against a creator who doesn't care about His creation, who
won't intervene and stop the madness.
There is nothing more beautiful than the love of God in Christ Jesus.
"Repent and be baptized in the Name of
Jesus." We take those words and
that formula for granted but how would Peter's listeners have heard these
words? This would have been perhaps the
strangest concept they had ever heard, to be baptized in the name of anyone,
much less in the Name of the man who had recently died on a cross, the man
counted as accursed under the law. That
act would have aligned them with His curse but the resurrection from the dead,
if true as Peter claims, would have caused them to believe that He wasn't
accursed after all. To take the Name of
Jesus would be to put all your hopes on Him as God's Messiah, to ride His
coattails and His righteousness. In
Vegas it would be to put all your chips on one number at roulette but the
resurrection shows it to be a safe bet. They have to take Peter and the others' word
for it though. Except that the Holy
Spirit was given to enable faith. Have
we aligned ourselves and all our hopes completely in Him?
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