The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Our Jonathan”
For the sake of his beloved friend Jonathan, King David of Israel bestowed grace upon Jonathan's lame son, Mephibosheth.
"And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually" (II Samuel 9:7).
David’s lavish bestowal of kindness stunned Mephibosheth. "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" (II Samuel 9:8). Mephibosheth’s generation considered lameness as a sign of disfavor with God. The lame could not serve as priests, nor could a lame animal be offered as a sacrifice (Leviticus 21:18; Deuteronomy 15:21). Mephibosheth thus considered himself as rejected, and as good as dead. That the king should look upon him with any favor whatsoever shocked the poor man. That David should shower him with the grace of his table even more overwhelmed him with wonder.
If we could fully see the extent of our native spiritual lameness, we would be no less bewildered. In the clearest thinking moments of our existence, glimmers of light shine upon the rejection and death from which we were delivered, leading us to share in Mephibosheth’s bewilderment. "How, Lord, could You be so kind to me? Whence comes such mercy upon such a dead dog as me?"
From the throne of grace and the pages of Scripture, the answer sounds and resounds...
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7).
"With Christ... in Christ Jesus... through Christ Jesus." The Lord Jesus is our Jonathan. For His sake, the Father enlivens us, raises us up to sit together in Heavenly places, and showers upon us "the exceeding riches of His grace." Dead dogs become living sheep who will forever graze in pastures green with infinite and eternal grace. In those clear thinking moments of our earthly sojourn, we see and partake of wonder, of the "unspeakable gift" of the Christ who makes possible every moment of God’s mercy (II Corinthians 9:15).
Only in Heaven, however will we fully understand the extent of our Lord’s intercession on our behalf. There we will know that every moment of our eternal blessedness came to us by way of the sorrow, agony, forsakenness and death of our Savior. We will know that to the degree the Lord Jesus was rejected, we are "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). We will know that a long eternity awaits wherein "the unsearchable riches of Christ" will never be fully exhausted because the feet of the Lord Jesus were made lame with the nails of a cross. He still bears the wounds of that piercing, and we will forever look upon them in the knowledge of why God "hath raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 3:8; 2:6). Yes, the Lord Jesus is our Jonathan, the glorious and gracious One who answers the question of a “dead dog” viewed by God in far different terms, based upon the person, merits, and work of Another…
“He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.”
(Ephesians 1:6)
"The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”
(I Timothy 1:14).
Weekly Memory Verse
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last.
(Revelation 1:17)
7802
No comments:
Post a Comment