Jesus
has taught the Jewish religious leaders about doing acts of love and mercy on
the Sabbath. If the Jewish leadership is okay with circumcising a male on the
Sabbath, then why are they so angry at Him for healing a whole man? As the Lord
of the Sabbath, Jesus can circumvent the law in order to do acts of mercy, love
and salvation. Why? God is love and is merciful.
Jesus in His flesh body fulfilled the law of
circumcision and the Sabbath. Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day
according to the Law of God. He who was a sinless Holy Man in the flesh had to
do all that the law required in order to fulfill it. Jesus obeyed the Law
physically and spiritually. Only a sinless man could fulfill the Law because
the original sin came through a sinless man and woman – Adam and the woman. At
God’s appointed time, Jesus will bring the law into the spiritual, eternal
realm by shedding the blood of His whole fleshly body to bring redemption and
eternal life to His spiritual Body of believers. Jesus shed His blood for the sin
of the whole world, but His blood cannot be applied unless the person believes
in Jesus and His redemptive work.
Judging
Next, Jesus will speak to these religious leaders about
judging. “Stop judging by mere
appearances, and make a right (righteous)
judgment.” V24
Jesus will
teach these religious leaders that mercy triumphs over judgment.
This was not a new concept. It was also in the Older Testament. Zechariah 7:9: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one
another.” True
justice is righteous justice.
James 2:12-13: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the
law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone
who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
Jesus will attempt to show the
religious leaders that they are to deal with the Law by God’s Spirit and heart.
Acts of love and mercy are higher laws of God. Jesus came from God and is the
holy Seed of God. He knows the fullness of God, His heart and His mercy. Jesus also
has all spiritual wisdom. 1 Corinthians
1:24: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Jesus and the Father
are One. They do not work contrary to one another. They are of one mind – the
mind of God. Jesus worded God’s mind and ways. So Jesus acted as God would act!
“God is a righteous judge.” Psalm 7:11 In
the last book of the Bible, this fact is repeated. Revelation 16:7: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who
were, the Only One, because you have so judged….” Righteous judgment is
founded upon God and His Truth. So, Jesus is telling these religious leaders
that they must not judge by appearance only. They must get the facts (truth).
Jesus is teaching them the Truth but they are resistant to it. They want to
hold to the law and their interpretation of it. Jesus is telling them that they
must judge fairly and righteously. (see
Deuteronomy 1:17) Not understanding God’s heart of love, these religious
leaders considered Jesus blasphemous and wanted to kill Him. Jesus wants these
leaders to understand the difference between the letter of the law versus grace
and truth. Jesus healed a man to wholeness and wellness which is the gift and
grace of God.
How does this apply to
believers?
Followers
of Christ are not to judge with a self-righteous, condemning or hypocritical
attitude. Nor are we to judge with an unforgiving judgment. God’s righteous
judgment is explained in James 2. The
Godhead judges righteously because they see and know all things. Jesus explains
in John 8:14-18 that “He stands with the Father” and if He
does judge, “His decisions are right
because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent Me.” John 8:16 We
are not to usurp the place of the Godhead. We must let God be God. Only the
Godhead can cast into hell!
God wants us
to be discerning. We are to discern the true from the false, right from wrong,
moral from immoral. As a matter of fact, the Word tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:30-31 that we are to
judge ourselves. “If we judged
ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we
are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” We
can judge actions, words and deeds, but are not to judge ourselves or another
person in condemnation. That is God’s job! When God judges one or more of the
words, actions or deeds of one who believes in His Son, it is done for
discipline not condemnation. Discipline shows that He loves us as sons and
daughters. Sin does not bring life, so God would want to bring us out of any
sin or sinful action that hurts His own and brings spiritual death.
Jesus taught
on judging ourselves and others in Matthew
7:1-5. He says that if we judge, we will be judged in the same way that we judge others. He says that we are to judge ourselves first by taking the
plank out of our own eye.
If a brother
or sister in the Lord is doing something that is sinful, we are to correct in a
spirit of gentleness toward restoration, not in condemning judgment. (see Galatians 6:1) This is the heart
of God toward His own. He wants us to extend the same loving discipline to our
brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are to speak the truth in love and gently
correct erring brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the heart of God, Jesus
and the Holy Spirit. Paul says in 1 Corinthians
9:27, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have
preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Disciplining
ourselves is good. It shows our love for the Lord Jesus and for ourselves and
others. Jesus said three times in John
14 is that those who love Him obey His commandments. And Proverbs
3:12 says, “For whom the Lord loves
He corrects, just as a father the son in whom He delights.” This is
repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews
12:6.
(Next:
Is Jesus the Christ?)”
No comments:
Post a Comment