Tuesday, June 23, 2015

“Flummoxed”


   "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ?  Whose son is He?  They say unto Him, the Son of David.  He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on My right hand until I make thine enemies Thy footstool?  If David call Him Lord, how is He his son?  And no man was able to answer Him a word" (Matthew 22:41-46).

    The religious leaders of the Lord's day, themselves proud and self important, could not fathom a Christ who would humble Himself to become a son of one so much lesser than Himself.  The Lord Jesus was responsible for David's very existence (John 1:3).  How then could He become the earthly king's offspring?  The question flummoxed the Pharisees.

    We know the answer, at least in principle.  In New Testament terms, every Christian realizes and believes that our salvation required the incarnation of God the Son.  The humility required for such a miracle, however, should flummox us no less than it did the Pharisees.  How could One so infinitely great and glorious be the same One who condescended not merely to become human, but to willingly suffer the most ignominious fate imaginable?  "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).  Let us not allow the familiarity of the old, old story to numb our hearts and minds to its wonder, or more literally, to the wonder of the God whose sublime character includes the glory of "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29).

    Many fascinating subjects will present themselves to our minds throughout our earthly lifetime.  None begin to compare with the person of the Lord Jesus.  "What think ye of Christ?"  No less than the Lord Jesus Himself raised the question to men who could not begin to answer.  We can begin.  We can in this lifetime initiate discovery of the wonder unlike any other.  God's Son and our Savior exists as Divinity and humanity united in one Person glorious beyond description, and humble beyond all understanding of meekness.  The Apostle John fell as dead at the feet of the risen Christ.  The Apostle Thomas was invited to touch the prints of nails that remain on the Savior's resurrected hands, and to reach into His wounded side (Revelation 1:17; John 20:27).  Glorious.  Humble.  All in one, all in One.  Indeed, in Heaven and earth, there is no one like the Lord Jesus.  No other subject can so fill, thrill, and fulfill our hearts and minds as the contemplation of the Christ revealed by the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.  How can He be who and what He is?  A long eternity will not suffice in providing a complete answer.  But this moment calls us to the consideration, and to the wonder that both flummoxes and illuminates...

"Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.  God was manifest in the flesh."
(I Timothy 3:16)
"The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.  And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain."
(Revelation 5:5-6)

Weekly Memory Verse
    Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord will not impute sin.
(Romans 4:8)
         

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