His uprightness and downreaching
“Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” (Ps. 97:2).
“Who touched Me?” (Lk. 8:45). The words rang out over the humdrum and din of the excited multitude. The galaxy of people stopped because the Center of the galaxy stopped. “Who touched Me?” He called out in royal command, this time looking straight at the woman who had touched but the hem of His tunic. Now she was in trouble; and trembling she came forth from the crowd, confessing her bold move in a male-dominated society.
He ignored her altogether, and His disciples advised Him to cast her away. His only answer to her begging for help was, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me.
But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matt. 15:23-28).
“What wilt thou?… Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?... Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father.” (Matt. 20:21-23).
Yet, later we find one of the two here spoken to digging deeply into his Master’s gracious friendship. “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” (Jn. 13:23).
In all three cases, Jesus maintained a strong, professional exterior. His voice was commanding, His words were unimpassioned and always principled. Yet, there was something about Him that drew the people. Something attracted their trust in Him.
“For Mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from Mine eyes.
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled My land, they have filled Mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable
things.
O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” (Jer. 16:17-19).
“I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the
earth.
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.” (Is. 63:6,7).
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” (Ex. 32:7-13).
Again, we see that the prophets experienced the strong face of the Son of God, yet they could pierce the apparent impersonal divine attitude toward brazen, unrepentant sinners. This was not to deter Him from His righteous purpose, but to involve themselves with Him in His purposes. They felt safe in trusting Him. He was more than a God, He was a confidant.
We want a friend in God. And we can claim friendship with the Son of God. He has been sent for that purpose. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:12). But our love for Him is severely tainted with selfish motives, which He is determined to cleanse and make holy. We desire a God who will come down and do the bawdy things we do, share in the illicit kinds of love Satan has trained us in. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” (Ps. 50:21).
Our fallen natures define friendship to include undue familiarity, faithfulness without question, such “deep trust” in a relationship that it will sacrifice principle in order to keep the frienship. Adam with Eve; Aaron with the idolatrous rabble; King Hezekiah and the Babylonian statesmen. We don’t want restrictions and boundaries. So, the sin-loving multitudes are offended when they see a Savior who distanced Himself from sinners in His bearing and words. They interpret His reserved mannerisms as coldness. “How can He really be a friend?” they say.
It wasn’t cold exclusiveness that motivated Christ’s high bearing, but steadfastness to reclaim us from Satan’s grip, packaged in a determination to uphold His Father’s government. He doesn’t desire dead, sterile relationships, indifferent, platonic unions; He loves the intimate expression of pure love.
Yet, on the other hand, He cannot admit self-indulgence into any covenant of the heart. He will not let self ruin what He considers the utmost of precious treasures—a friend. He will die for an enemy to make him a friend. His misinterpreted coolness was really the manifestation of wisdom. True wisdom is actually wise love, a love that discerns what we really need, not what we think we need. True love motivates real wisdom.
The kind of loose, self-absorbed love eventually collapses. Holy love, founded on the solid Rock of self-forgetful goodness, is the only enduring and truly endearing love. Only those who walk in the light of God’s Law “have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1Jn. 1:7).
The popular definition of friendship is so perverted that many don’t recognize love when they see it. Yet it was pure love that motivated the Son of God. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:3,4).
“He was numbered with the transgressors.” (Is. 53:12). In order to cleanse us of self-indulgent love, He was sent by His Father to come in close and include Himself in our affairs. Without ever breaking from principle, He offered a love that was truly undying, yet was loyal to God’s law of self-sacrifice. Those whose faith could accept that arrangement followed Him. The rest were blinded by the adversary and rejected Him.
“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Lk. 16:16). His attractiveness is His love. It draws us through the filter of His righteousness, stripping away all our defilement. As we are pulled through the screen, our sensibilities appreciate His love more and more.
Fine is the filter, and strong is the love “which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14).
“Who touched Me?” (Lk. 8:45). The words rang out over the humdrum and din of the excited multitude. The galaxy of people stopped because the Center of the galaxy stopped. “Who touched Me?” He called out in royal command, this time looking straight at the woman who had touched but the hem of His tunic. Now she was in trouble; and trembling she came forth from the crowd, confessing her bold move in a male-dominated society.
He ignored her altogether, and His disciples advised Him to cast her away. His only answer to her begging for help was, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then came she and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me.
But He answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matt. 15:23-28).
“What wilt thou?… Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?... Ye shall drink indeed of My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father.” (Matt. 20:21-23).
Yet, later we find one of the two here spoken to digging deeply into his Master’s gracious friendship. “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” (Jn. 13:23).
In all three cases, Jesus maintained a strong, professional exterior. His voice was commanding, His words were unimpassioned and always principled. Yet, there was something about Him that drew the people. Something attracted their trust in Him.
“For Mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from My face, neither is their iniquity hid from Mine eyes.
And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled My land, they have filled Mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable
things.
O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” (Jer. 16:17-19).
“I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury, and I will bring down their strength to the
earth.
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.” (Is. 63:6,7).
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.” (Ex. 32:7-13).
Again, we see that the prophets experienced the strong face of the Son of God, yet they could pierce the apparent impersonal divine attitude toward brazen, unrepentant sinners. This was not to deter Him from His righteous purpose, but to involve themselves with Him in His purposes. They felt safe in trusting Him. He was more than a God, He was a confidant.
We want a friend in God. And we can claim friendship with the Son of God. He has been sent for that purpose. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:12). But our love for Him is severely tainted with selfish motives, which He is determined to cleanse and make holy. We desire a God who will come down and do the bawdy things we do, share in the illicit kinds of love Satan has trained us in. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” (Ps. 50:21).
Our fallen natures define friendship to include undue familiarity, faithfulness without question, such “deep trust” in a relationship that it will sacrifice principle in order to keep the frienship. Adam with Eve; Aaron with the idolatrous rabble; King Hezekiah and the Babylonian statesmen. We don’t want restrictions and boundaries. So, the sin-loving multitudes are offended when they see a Savior who distanced Himself from sinners in His bearing and words. They interpret His reserved mannerisms as coldness. “How can He really be a friend?” they say.
It wasn’t cold exclusiveness that motivated Christ’s high bearing, but steadfastness to reclaim us from Satan’s grip, packaged in a determination to uphold His Father’s government. He doesn’t desire dead, sterile relationships, indifferent, platonic unions; He loves the intimate expression of pure love.
Yet, on the other hand, He cannot admit self-indulgence into any covenant of the heart. He will not let self ruin what He considers the utmost of precious treasures—a friend. He will die for an enemy to make him a friend. His misinterpreted coolness was really the manifestation of wisdom. True wisdom is actually wise love, a love that discerns what we really need, not what we think we need. True love motivates real wisdom.
The kind of loose, self-absorbed love eventually collapses. Holy love, founded on the solid Rock of self-forgetful goodness, is the only enduring and truly endearing love. Only those who walk in the light of God’s Law “have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1Jn. 1:7).
The popular definition of friendship is so perverted that many don’t recognize love when they see it. Yet it was pure love that motivated the Son of God. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:3,4).
“He was numbered with the transgressors.” (Is. 53:12). In order to cleanse us of self-indulgent love, He was sent by His Father to come in close and include Himself in our affairs. Without ever breaking from principle, He offered a love that was truly undying, yet was loyal to God’s law of self-sacrifice. Those whose faith could accept that arrangement followed Him. The rest were blinded by the adversary and rejected Him.
“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Lk. 16:16). His attractiveness is His love. It draws us through the filter of His righteousness, stripping away all our defilement. As we are pulled through the screen, our sensibilities appreciate His love more and more.
Fine is the filter, and strong is the love “which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14).
posted by David | 2:08 AM
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