They fell down

 

Posted on May 31, 2023

By Elizabeth Prata


I know it’s currently an atmosphere were we say Jesus is my friend…he met me in the garden and promised me… he whispered sweet nothings… he embraces me like a boyfriend…(ew), and more along that vein. In American (female) evangelicalism the view of Jesus is more toward the friendly nice boyfriend Jesus, or the (male) Jesus is ‘ma dude’ kind of view.

But He’s not. He’s not.

It’s also currently in vogue to say you’ve seen a vision of Jesus. It’s almost common these days. People are apparently spotting Jesus all over the place.

In the sermon The Sufficiency of Christ, John MacArthur related an anecdote:

“A man said to me, “Sometimes when I’m shaving, Jesus comes in the bathroom and puts His arm around me in the morning and talks to me.” I said, “You mean the real Jesus?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “And He puts His arm around you and you see Him?” He said, “Yes.” And I just had one question: “Do you keep shaving, or do you fall on your face in the ground in terror because you’re in the presence of a holy God? If you keep shaving, it wasn’t Jesus.”

Jesus is our friend, brother, comforter, intercessor, all that is true. It’s also true he is high, lifted up, the sustainer of the universe, powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, and HOLY.

That’s the part people forget Jesus is holy. He is God Himself. If we encounter Jesus today (and those visions and dreams and accounts are false) we do not casually stroll around a garden…we do not keep shaving…we do not ask Him for the earthly things we want in our lustful hearts. We FALL DOWN. We CONFESS SIN.

Those are consistently the two reactions people in the Bible exhibited when encountering the real Jesus.

Isaiah was given a vision of Jesus being worshiped in the throne room, and he immediately confessed his sin, saying ‘I am undone/ruined’. The word ruined means “cause to cease, cut off, destroy, perish”. In other words, one glimpse of Jesus and Isaiah was terrified as if dead. (Isaiah 6:5).

Manoah and his wife, when they realized it was ‘the angel of Yahweh’ rising upon the fire of the altar, they fell down on their faces. (Judges 13:20) and Manoah feared for his life, because he had seen the LORD.

When Job came to the same realization of just how holy and powerful God is he put his hand over his own mouth (Job 40:4) then repented in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5-6).

Hagar marveled that she was even still alive after her encounter with ‘the angel of Yahweh’. (Genesis 16:13).

Moses at the Burning Bush was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:6). When Moses came down fromt he mountain and his face reflected the glory of God, the people were terrified. Even second-hand glory was enough to frighten them through and through!

When Simon Peter saw the miracle of the boat filling with fish, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8).

Apostle John was the beloved disciple. He had leaned on Jesus breast at the Last Supper. He was with Jesus for three years, as friend, fellow traveler in his troupe. YET when Jesus appeared to John on Patmos as he is, glorified and holy, John fell down as if dead. (Revelation 1:17).

The immediate reaction consistent among all who had an encounter with the true Jesus is worship, holy fear, and a thorough realization of their own corrupt sinfulness. We don’t casually walk around, keep shaving, ask for earthly things as if He’s Santa incarnate. WE.FALL.DOWN.

Keep remembering who Jesus actually is. Look at Him through the lens of scripture, and not the lens of the culture. Keep your eyes looking up, and not out.

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14).

and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and having in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp two-edged sword which comes out of His mouth, and His face was like the sun shining in its power. (Revelation 1:13-16).

Worship the Lord your GOD. He is glorified, striding among the lampstands, sustaining the worlds by the power of His voice. THIS Jesus is worthy to be worshiped. He is Alpha and Omega, all-sufficient. He is Jesus, Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And aren’t we blessed to have been forgiven and adopted by this powerful God, who will come in wrath for those who have not repented.

For all the gods of the nations are idols, but it is the LORD who made the heavens. (1 Chronicles 16:26)

If You Say So

by James MacDonald

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:9–11, esv).

I’ll never forget being a young pastor and having my first experience of meeting a person who claimed to be a Christian, but who wasn’t actually under the authority of God’s Word.

I sat down with this man one day, along with another pastor from our church, just to talk about some problematic things in his life that were becoming obvious to others. We began to show him the Scriptures, thinking he would see the truth as well as our love for him in being concerned about his life and family. We prayed he’d see that we wanted to help.

And he did. He saw it. He understood what the Word was saying, and he admitted to what he was doing. But “Bible or not,” he said, “I’m not changing.”

I didn’t know anyone would actually say that. I couldn’t imagine it.

But I’ve looked in the mirror plenty of times since then, as I’m inviting you to do today, to challenge myself on whether the Bible is indeed my total, complete authority. Three questions can help us discern the answer to this all-important question.

1. Can the Bible change your mind? Standard procedure is to think we’re pretty good people, able to save ourselves, able to change ourselves. But the Bible says, “All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6, nkjv). “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5, esv). It’s no minor theme in Scripture that “whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). It’s cover to cover. The only question is: does this clear line of thinking change your mind about who you really are and the extent of what you can do on your own?

2. Can the Bible melt your heart? You may feel waves of anger sometimes at your boss, a parent, or simply a guy who cut you off in traffic. But when you hear, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31), how quickly and deeply is it able to influence your heart? When you see the unforgiving servant in Jesus’ parable handed over to the jailers and you hear Jesus say, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:35), does it change you? Does the truth melt your angry heart?

3. Can the Bible change your direction? Any one of us can get turned around on the road of life. But how many times has your testimony been, “I was living for sin, for self, for sex, for stuff, for success”—whatever it was—“and the Word got through to me and challenged me, changing my direction”? The psalm writer said, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. . . . I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” When you hear a verse that seriously stops you in your tracks, is the next step you take in a different direction from the one you were previously traveling?

I’m not asking if you like the Bible. I’m not asking if you enjoy studying the Bible. I’m asking if you’re under the authority of the Bible.

Can it change your mind?

Can it change your heart?

Can it change your direction?



PRAY

Lord God, Your Word to me is not just information. It’s not just sentimental and soothing and spiritual sounding. Nor is it optional. Keep me under its authority as I keep it daily before me. Continually use it, Lord, to train my mind, tenderize my heart, and teach my feet to stay in the path Your Word directs me to follow. Thank You for the boundaries it draws and the freedom it offers so that I can experience full life in Your kingdom, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Days of Atonement

by James MacDonald

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21, nasb). Not everyone believes what I hope you believe (what the Bible actually says) about the reason Jesus Christ had to die. Some believe, for example, that God didn’t require a payment for sinners—that He forgives people simply because He chooses to do so, without resolution of any kind. But if that’s true, what was Jesus doing on the cross? Believing this view doesn’t make God more gracious; it makes Him cruel in the extreme. Others believe that the death of Christ merely served as an example. They say the cross shows us how much God loves us. But this view fails to take into account numerous Bible passages that say Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4, esv), how “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), that He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Here’s the truth: Christ took our place and suffered our punishment for sin. He became our substitute. That’s where the term substitutionary atonement comes from. His death was the legal act whereby He fulfilled the demands of God’s holy law and paid the penalty for sin. He became “sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Even in the Old Testament, Isaiah prophesied, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Be sure you know the word atonement. The death of Jesus Christ atoned for sin, made payment for it. If the gospel were a dartboard, the word atonement would be the bull’s-eye. Throughout this Passion Week, as you read and are reminded of the suffering Jesus underwent, atonement is what you see happening every step of the way. The flogging, the mocking, the blasphemous taunting. The twisting of the crown of thorns, piercing into His scalp. A scratchy robe laid across His open, throbbing wounds. His face, eyes, and mouth, swollen and disfigured. And so much blood—spilled, splattered, shed. This is Jesus Christ, atoning. He would complete it on the cross, but it didn’t begin on the cross. The atonement didn’t somehow start with the nailing. For example, Isaiah 53 describes Christ’s scourge as part of His atonement when it says that “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5b, nkjv). All of it is the atoning work of Jesus. It is the wrath of God poured out upon His Son to satisfy the inherent demands of holiness. Someone had to pay. A holy God could not casually dismiss sin with a wave of His hand and the presentation of a hall pass. Holiness demanded that sin must be paid for. What you see then, in Christ’s suffering and death, is Love finding a way to pay for sin Himself. The closer your journey leads you to the cross this week, try to avoid detours that would induce you to think of Jesus merely as your example. Don’t be distracted by signs that point to ways following Christ improves your life. Walk as though you’re moving deeper into a funnel, drawing nearer and narrower, until all you see is “Jesus, my Substitute,” taking upon Himself the demands of holiness so that you can be forgiven. PRAY Lord, what kind of worship is appropriate for such total atonement? “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:12–13, esv). I will come to You amazed at what Your Son Jesus has done for me. I will surrender my all to You for as long as I live. I will praise You every day for the gift of grace and the sacrifice of Christ, in the name of Jesus, my Substitute, amen.

Spirit vs. Flesh

Two natures beat within my breast,

The one is foul; the one is blest.

The one I love; the one I hate,

The one I feed will dominate.

unknown author