MUSINGS FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE
‘Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait for someone else?’
Luke 7:19.
This urgent question posed to Messiah by John the Baptist is really most extraordinary, given John’s conscious role in the scheme of salvation. When active in his ministry it was palpably obvious to the Lord’s forerunner that he was to announce the advent of Jesus the Christ of God. He was the herald of this stupendous news and his mind was illuminated as to the essence of the gospel. The Lamb of God sent for our salvation was actually in the midst of men. Solitude in prison, and facing the prospect of execution, caused John to ruminate exceedingly deeply about the situation in which he found himself. He began to compare Isaiah’s portrait of the Servant of the Lord with the reports he received about Jesus. For John, there was one glaring omission in the message and behavior of Jesus that aroused suspicion as to his authenticity. Jesus’ rendition of the Messianic prophecy went along the following lines: ‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the down-trodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.’ Jesus continued, ‘This text is being
fulfilled today even as you listen’ [Luke 4:18-19].
But John’s keen ear detected the Savior’s alteration to his Messianic assignment when he recalled the full content of Isaiah’s original and entire proclamation, which ran, ‘The spirit of the Lord is on me. He has sent me to bring the news to the afflicted, to soothe the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison, to proclaim the year of favor from Yahweh, and a day of vengeance from our God, to comfort all who mourn . . . [Isaiah 61:1-2]. Strikingly, Jesus omitted to refer to the approaching vengeance of the Lord. To John, it seemed that Jesus was unwarrantably blameworthy for this huge editorial adjustment. Jesus had clearly excised a powerful element, strongly emphasized, in John’s given warnings from the Spirit of God. John’s dominant message was severe warning concerning the reality and imminence of divine judgment and painful punishment for sin unacknowledged and for which there had not been any expression of sincere repentance, i.e. ongoing sin that failed to meet with the contrition of the convicted heart.
John felt the wrath of God boiling within his most animated spirit of righteousness, justice and personal holiness - evil appalled him and he knew that Messiah was conditioned to remove all wickedness from human nature. The preaching of the forerunner, and that of the foretold remover of wickedness, evidently clashed, but only temporarily, as we now know. Jesus adverted to reluctant wrath in divine dealings with the human race. Assuredly, his anger, his just indignation, will be swift ultimately, when our bold rebelliousness at last diminishes his amazing forbearance and causes his avenging hand to strike. However, judgment is his strange, unaccustomed work. Mercy is his preferred mode of dealing with men e.g. “O God, who declares thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity’ [collect for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity].
Divine grace is the most powerful force we shall ever encounter, given that the Lord must drag us to himself and that “drag” is the true biblical sense of the verb “draw”. The saving love of God, in wooing sinners home to divine favor, may contain an element of apparent violence in order to free us from our harsh captivity to the triple lock of self, sin and Satan. We resist the gospel by nature. But such divine violence is the violence of love exercising commanding determination to rescue and redeem the beloved from imminent danger. We witness holy irony when it comes to those chosen to enter the kingdom that these are encouraged to break into the kingdom in an attitude of absolute insistence. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” [Matthew 11:12]. Let us each “lay hold”!
RJS
‘Are you the one who is to come, or must we wait for someone else?’
Luke 7:19.
This urgent question posed to Messiah by John the Baptist is really most extraordinary, given John’s conscious role in the scheme of salvation. When active in his ministry it was palpably obvious to the Lord’s forerunner that he was to announce the advent of Jesus the Christ of God. He was the herald of this stupendous news and his mind was illuminated as to the essence of the gospel. The Lamb of God sent for our salvation was actually in the midst of men. Solitude in prison, and facing the prospect of execution, caused John to ruminate exceedingly deeply about the situation in which he found himself. He began to compare Isaiah’s portrait of the Servant of the Lord with the reports he received about Jesus. For John, there was one glaring omission in the message and behavior of Jesus that aroused suspicion as to his authenticity. Jesus’ rendition of the Messianic prophecy went along the following lines: ‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the down-trodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.’ Jesus continued, ‘This text is being
fulfilled today even as you listen’ [Luke 4:18-19].
But John’s keen ear detected the Savior’s alteration to his Messianic assignment when he recalled the full content of Isaiah’s original and entire proclamation, which ran, ‘The spirit of the Lord is on me. He has sent me to bring the news to the afflicted, to soothe the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, release to those in prison, to proclaim the year of favor from Yahweh, and a day of vengeance from our God, to comfort all who mourn . . . [Isaiah 61:1-2]. Strikingly, Jesus omitted to refer to the approaching vengeance of the Lord. To John, it seemed that Jesus was unwarrantably blameworthy for this huge editorial adjustment. Jesus had clearly excised a powerful element, strongly emphasized, in John’s given warnings from the Spirit of God. John’s dominant message was severe warning concerning the reality and imminence of divine judgment and painful punishment for sin unacknowledged and for which there had not been any expression of sincere repentance, i.e. ongoing sin that failed to meet with the contrition of the convicted heart.
John felt the wrath of God boiling within his most animated spirit of righteousness, justice and personal holiness - evil appalled him and he knew that Messiah was conditioned to remove all wickedness from human nature. The preaching of the forerunner, and that of the foretold remover of wickedness, evidently clashed, but only temporarily, as we now know. Jesus adverted to reluctant wrath in divine dealings with the human race. Assuredly, his anger, his just indignation, will be swift ultimately, when our bold rebelliousness at last diminishes his amazing forbearance and causes his avenging hand to strike. However, judgment is his strange, unaccustomed work. Mercy is his preferred mode of dealing with men e.g. “O God, who declares thy almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity’ [collect for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity].
Divine grace is the most powerful force we shall ever encounter, given that the Lord must drag us to himself and that “drag” is the true biblical sense of the verb “draw”. The saving love of God, in wooing sinners home to divine favor, may contain an element of apparent violence in order to free us from our harsh captivity to the triple lock of self, sin and Satan. We resist the gospel by nature. But such divine violence is the violence of love exercising commanding determination to rescue and redeem the beloved from imminent danger. We witness holy irony when it comes to those chosen to enter the kingdom that these are encouraged to break into the kingdom in an attitude of absolute insistence. “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” [Matthew 11:12]. Let us each “lay hold”!
RJS
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