The Plot Against Jesus

Yes, I know I’m jumping ahead.  We just celebrated Christmas.  But when God leads you to greater understanding, you don’t quarrel with Him.  You just go along for the ride.

I find it amazing that I’m still learning.  I grew up in a Christian church, and I became a true Christian in 1991.  Yet I’m still grasping new truths all the time.  Thank God!  I don’t want the Scriptures to become dusty and commonplace.  They still hold a lot of mystery for me, so I keep coming back for more.

Okay, back to the topic that started this post.  You probably know that the chief priests and Pharisees accompanied the soldiers when they arrested Jesus.  But why did they hate Him so much?  The answer is right there in the Bible.  I found it in John, chapter 3, starting with verse 19:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Verse 20: Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” 

Jesus states the facts clearly.  Since every man is a sinner, you can bet the chief priests and Pharisees were as guilty as everyone else.  They probably felt some pressure to behave better than the common man.  Jesus made them feel like failures, I’m sure.  His words convicted them.  Not a good feeling.  So they despised Him.

Think of yourself.  When you’re sinning, you don’t feel very close to God, do you?  You know what you’re doing is wrong.  Perhaps you mentally step away from God, hoping He won’t notice what you’re up to.  If you took a minute to remember Jesus and His words, I bet you’d feel convicted, just like those chief priests and Pharisees. 

That’s the whole point!  The Bible is full of good and bad examples, models to follow and warnings of what not to do.  Let’s decide today not to be a Pharisee, okay?

Destination Continuation

Upon request, I am continuing to record for you what I read in John Bevere’s book Extraordinary.  If you didn’t read the first post, please go back to it now and read it first!

… For this reason, God had to come up with a plan to save humankind from what they brought on themselves and their descendants.  This is why Jesus had to die for us.  Jesus was born 100% God, thus He was free from the curse of sin.  But because He was also born 100% man, He could pay the price of man’s great sin against God.  Only another human could get us out of the judgment we had brought on ourselves.  For this reason, when Jesus became sin on the cross for our sake, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).  He took our punishment.  He took our place in regard to judgment.

The chapter goes on to say:

So when men and women give their hearts and lives to the lordship of Jesus, the legal ownership of Satan is broken, and the judgment held against them by God is completely satisfied.  God can justly grant us entrance into His kingdom and not violate His integrity.  What an extraordinary plan prepared by our amazing God!