"Jesus Wept"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe….

"Jesus Wept"

    The shortest verse in the Bible may provide the greatest measure of light regarding the heart of God toward human beings.

    "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).

    Students of Scripture have long considered reasons for the tears of the Lord Jesus.  Certainly He wept because His friend Lazarus died.  He also shed tears because Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha, so deeply grieved.  It may also be the case that our Savior cried because of their unbelief regarding His capacity to do something to help the situation.  Both sisters expressed the same mournful resignation to the death of Lazarus: "If Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:21; 32).  Certainly these conjectures all offer possible explanations for why "Jesus wept" as they bear witness to His loving and compassionate heart.

    However, another way of looking at the Lord's weeping draws us even further into the the wonder of His emotional involvement with us, namely, the simple fact that the Lord Jesus could shed tears.  Our Savior had to become human for that physical reality to occur.  The Word had to be made flesh and dwell among us (John 1:14).  The Lord Jesus left the glories of pure Divinity in order to become the God who became man, and the man who remains God.  What sacrifice characterizes such condescension?  Indeed, when we rightly ponder the enormity of agony experienced by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary, we do well to remember that His title as "Man of sorrows" also references His departure from a wondrous Heaven to enter a fallen world for our sake (Isaiah 53:3).  Yes, the fact that our Lord could weep opens a portal into the heart of God through which glorious light shines forevermore.   "We have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, and yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

    In the Old Testament, Solomon rightly wondered how God could live in a temple constructed of earthly measure and material (I Kings 8:27).  Even more, the New Testament beckons us to behold the mystery of Divinity and humanity united in the most wondrous and winsome of all beings.  

    "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16).

   We will never fully know how eternally monumental a sacrifice the Lord Jesus made to enrobe Himself with a humanity He will never relinquish.  He will always be human as our mediator between God and ourselves.  He will always be able to feel what we feel as human beings, including both our joys and our sorrows.  The day will come when the latter will be erased from our heart and the sad things of earth remembered no more.  Never, however, will a day come when our Savior will not feel the sacrifice of becoming human for us.  Certainly He rejoices in the gain of having done so.  However, the wounds of Calvary still mar His resurrected body to bear witness to the wonder of He who has "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4).  "Jesus wept."  Two words, comprising the shortest verse in Scripture.  Never, however, will we fully comprehend the meaning and measure of love to which they bear witness.

"Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into My side, and be not faithless, but believing."

(John 20:27)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."

 (II Thessalonians 2:16-17)

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“The Benefactor and the Beneficiary"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe….

"The Benefactor and the Beneficiary"

    The writer of Hebrews proclaims the Lord Jesus Christ as "the heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2).  This raises the question: who is the benefactor of Christ's inheritance?  Who died to make the Lord Jesus the heir?

      The answer is Himself.  Indeed, our Savior is the only person in history to serve as both benefactor and beneficiary in the same will. First, let us consider His possession of "all things."  As God the Son, and the Person of the godhead most directly involved in creation (He would become a part of that creation), our Savior rightly bears the title, "Possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19).  He also confirmed His ownership: "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father" (Matthew 11:27).  Thus, His inheritance of all things resulted from His bequeathing of all things to Himself.  In normal terms, this constitutes an impossibility.  One who dies cannot inherit an estate because He is no longer present to receive the benefit.

    Unless… unless the one who dies somehow escapes the bonds of the grave.  "God raised Him from the dead" (Acts 13:30).  The resurrection made possible the impossible.  The Benefactor who died arose to become the beneficiary of His own estate, namely, the estate of "all things."  The implications of this wonder are vast, particularly regarding believers in the Lord Jesus.

    "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:16-17).

   The Christ who rightly merited the miraculous bequeathing of His inheritance to Himself gives to believers undeserved involvement in the estate.  Grace provides salvation, and then participation in our Savior's inheritance:

    "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).  

    We live in and from the abundance of the Lord's inheritance.  Of course, He also administrates the bestowal in accordance with His glory, wisdom, and will, and with our best interests.  This may conflict with our fleshly notions regarding God's provision.  It may not always feel or seem as if "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3).  The truth nevertheless stands.  Christ is the heir.  We are "joint-heirs" with Him.  The One who died arose to receive His own estate, and to bequeath His bounty to all receive the free gift of salvation and "all things."  This we must believe, first because it is true, and then because our Lord's administration of His estate involves not only His gracious and wisely dispensed generosity, but also our confidence in the bestowal.  "Ask and ye shall receive...Ye have not because ye ask not" (John 16:24; James 4:2).  The risen Christ is everything and more than we will ever need.  He died and arose in order to receive His inheritance and also serve as our Benefactor.  Let us rejoice in the wonder, and let us believe the promise of the Benefactor and the Beneficiary…

"All things are yours... and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

(I Corinthians 3:21; 23)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."

 (II Thessalonians 2:16-17)

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“The Life of Eternity"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe….

"The Life of Eternity"

    The Lord Jesus Christ defined eternal life in terms of relationship rather than duration.

    "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

    Our Savior's emphasis directs our heart and mind to Who we know, as opposed to how long we will exist in the life of God.  This is not to minimize the Bible's promise of everlasting glories to come, and their promise of eternally knowing a far more vivid experience of reality than we presently comprehend.  However, God made our hearts for mutually loving devotion and fellowship.  "The Lord taketh pleasure in His people… In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 149:4; 16:11).  Our "fearfully and wonderfully" made humanity possesses characteristics for fellowship with our Heavenly Father that bring Him joyous and meaningful delight as the presence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ enlivens our potential for relationship (Psalm 139:14).  Thus, when  we think of eternal life, we must first consider and emphasize the gracious wonder of our Lord forever relating to us, and our relating to Him.  

   Such wonder begins in this lifetime for all who trust the Lord Jesus.  Certainly, we "see through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12).  But we do see.  We do know that we know our Lord as "the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).  The Apostle John referenced this in his declaration that believers presently "have eternal life" (I John 5:13).  That is, we now know in this lifetime the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.  Moreover, to whatever degree we have advanced in living fellowship with our Heavenly Father, we can proceed further down "the path of the just… that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18).  

   Let gratefully bask in the glory of such a gift.  In this day, our Lord offers to draw us further into His heart for the discovery of who He is.  He also proclaims the astonishing truth that we will bring Him pleasure even as we rejoice in Him.  "The prayer of the upright is His delight" (Proverbs 15:8).  Surely nothing offers us more thrilling expectation, and nothing begins to compare with the potential we possess in Christ to know God and to be known by Him.  May His Spirit lead us accordingly, and may this day in time be graced with the life of eternity as we "know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

"Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

(Jeremiah 33:3)

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in unto Him and will sup with Him, and He with Me."

(Revelation 3:20)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath give us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."

 (II Thessalonians 2:16-17)

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