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Luke 18:36-38
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice “of the truth,” the ability to recognize Jesus as God’s Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, our Messiah).
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
At times Jesus’ words make no sense to a casual reader. To understand Him, one must understand His reason for coming. Without that as the basis, His words can become confusing. He came to bare witness to the Truth. As in Pilates day, so is Truth today. It’s a moving target if you reject Jesus’s words, who spoke the Truth because He spoke of Himself. There is no truth regarding Life, our purpose in Life, and the future of our life apart from Him. Pilate’s words “What is truth” points to his emptiness, a war-hardened man whose “Truth” was his sword. Rome had conquered many nations and the gods of those nations, so much for their gods and their truth.
Yet he would learn through some painful and soul-searching experiences with Christ that Truth is not the sword but the peaceful person of Christ. Christ was unlike any man he had ever questioned or met. Would he later regret killing an innocent man when he had the power to free Him? He feared the Jew’s report to Caesar; therefore, who he really cared about was himself and his position, not the innocent man standing before him. Christ was and is a King from another world that Pilate’s heart was blind to even though his wife said to him “that she had suffered much in a dream and that he was to have nothing to do with that innocent man (Matt.27:19).” Would he come to understand this after Christ’s resurrection? The centurion who oversaw the Crucifixion came to believe.
Why would Jesus answer Pilate, “Thou sayest that I am a king”? Pilate never said Jesus was a King; Pilate asked if He was. Yet behind Pilate’s questioning of Jesus was the concern that Jesus might be a threat to Rome since he had such a large following. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, Nicodemus knew Jesus came from God because of His miracles, but he never asked Jesus about salvation; being a Jew, he assumed he had it. However, Jesus knowing that Nicodemus was blind to the Truth of Salvation, spoke to him, saying that he needed to be born again.
At times Jesus’s comments do not make sense. They do not follow the dialogue that is occurring. Yet Jesus, by speaking as such, creates the dialogue that needs to occur. He did it with Pilate and with Nicodemus. God allows situations to occur, sometimes very painful, so that we press into Him and ask hard questions that make us uncomfortable asking. Desperate needs give rise to desperate questions, which causes us to be uncomfortable, but cause us to seek Him with greater earnestness.
It makes us push aside our daily routines, comforts, and shallow living and seek Him. He longs to answer, but not always then and there. At times, time has to pass. Like water that runs over jagged rocks are smoothed, so pain has a way of humbling us, helping us to get our priorities straight, and now, He has our full attention. As we continue to search and seek, we position ourselves to be loved by Him. He can love us, teach us, and in time we may get the answer, or we no longer need the answer because we know He loves us (Amen).
Next question, what would you consider the Christian Faith’s biggest objection? Is it not because of its one-way “one-way” stance? That there is only One Way to be saved, to have Eternal Life, that there is only One True King, only One Truth, One True Confession, and only One Name in which we must be saved “under Heaven” (no other faith, no other name) no other teaching, doctrine or belief, One Name for the forgiveness of sin and only One Way to live life. There’s only ONE. Those statements are offensive statements to most people.
Equally offensive is that Christianity absolutely denies that all religions lead to God, and it denies that all faiths lead to the same place (Heaven). Also, the statement, ” It doesn’t matter what you believe, it just matters that you believe,” is probably one of the most ignorant statements I’ve heard. It’s just another lie that is so ridiculous that it sounds profound—one of many from satan’s bag of lies. Just think how many soldiers died in wars for their belief in this nation. Their beliefs were specific.
Therefore the posture of Christianity is all religions are just that, a religion. They are a way of belief, codes of conduct, means of thought, and ways of interpreting life and living life, but none of them can actually “grant” Eternal Life, forgiveness of sin, or the Abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit, which seals the deal when it comes to Salvation. That is the guarantee that one’s faith is genuine and authentic and has been honored by God Himself.
The Holy Spirit is the Heavenly down payment of His presence now and of much better things to come – so cool. And there is no middle ground; you have been given the Holy Spirit, or you haven’t, you are not “half saved,” and there are no negotiations. It’s either you have believed and confessed Christ as your Savior and repented of your sins, or you haven’t (we have all sinned and often need forgiveness). Is God being mean by having such strict requirements? Does He have the right to require a One Way belief; “It’s His way or it’s no way?”
John 3:14-18
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(I love story pictures to explain the truth. Man’s drowning in his ocean of sin, the ship’s captain called Salvation, sees us drowning and throws a Life Saver to us named Jesus. Is the Captain throwing us His Life Saver condemning or trying to save us? And if we do not grab unto His Life Saver and drown, whose decision was that, His or ours?)
**So God does not force anyone to believe, but He has the absolute right to establish the standards to which one can have a relationship. He absolutely has that right. If we have requirements for people to be our friends, how much more does a Holy God, Creator of the Universe, have? We make God into “our image” when we question Him or judge Him as if He was one of us. If we got one glimpse of His Majesty, we would pass out as dead men or tremble in fear (28:1-4).
Only Christianity leads to Eternal Life, other faiths proclaim Eternal Life, but only Christianity “lays the groundwork for it.” Why? Because Christ paved the way via His death. Only in Christianity is God Exalted, “High and Lifted Up” a Holy God, Pure and Righteous, and cannot look on sin or be approached by a man in his natural state. Still, because He (Jesus) took on my sin and your sin and paid the penalty for it on the Cross (death), He, God, can now engage with us (all other faiths emphasize our good deeds as if we could earn or gain our salvation).
Therefore because of what Christ has suffered on our behalf, He does have every right to set a standard of Holiness, “You are to be Holy as I am Holy ( Lev.11:44).” However, His Holiness is impossible for us, it’s unattainable, but it is in Christ, the sinless Lamb of God and His Holiness is “imputed” to us when we confess Him as our Savior and receive forgiveness for our sins (that’s the definition of Grace, God’s unmerited favor, just as an orphan adopted by the King becomes heir to the throne).
Another word picture. I have a nursery background, and part of my experience dealt with grafting specialty trees such as Japanese Maples. We would use the seedling for the “host” and graft on our tree (a tiny branch or bud). The two would become one as the cells of the two healed. The minerals and water from the rootstock would flow into the graft giving it life. This is precisely what happens when we abide in Christ.
John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
It’s incredible, this invitation is from God Himself!! Hence the reason why the Gospel is called the Good News. We now have 24-7 access to Him. It’s beautiful, beyond words to describe and comprehend. To have a relationship with The Father is Thee Pinnacle of this Life, there is nothing better, period! If you disagree, that’s okay for now, for we have all felt that way; however, it is wrong, and you need to mature in Him.
***We fail at ever being pure enough EVER to approach a Holy God on our merits; therefore, He has instituted Grace. Grace is very costly to God because it cost Him the death of His son, but because of that, He can grant us His Atonement, “the payment for my sin.” Grace then comes, and through years of trials and victories, growth occurs, and I begin to take on His likeness. Yet we all know that I’m not righteous and that you are not, but via His Grace, His Presence with us, we are given a most beautiful gift called Sanctification (just as if I’ve never sinned). It’s somewhat challenging to explain, but here’s a simple explanation. It’s when you take a street child (me, you), poor and dirty, uneducated in the ways of the Kingdom, and the King adopts us for no reason other than He has chosen to love us. We did nothing to deserve it, nor could we. It’s a gift from the King, and it is given to us when the Holy Spirit is sent upon confessing Christ as our Savior. The Holy Spirit is the proof of our adoption.
Early on, I thought, as many do, that I could earn God’s favor by being good. I never took to heart that I already had His favor, and now all He wanted was for me to spend time with Him in prayer and reading the Bible, getting to know Him. This proves how blind and ignorant I was; we are of God. As soon as we accept that He loves us just because He loves us (which is problematic because it’s very humbling, we want to be loved for something), we then become more submissive to His will. His love changes us. As clay in the potter’s hand, He seeks to form His nature in us. And I did say clay, moist dirt, not gold, silver, no precious metal, just moist dirt, but what He can do with moist dirt in His hands is amazing!
Isaiah 57:15
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the “contrite ones” (crushed into dust, pulverized).
Isaiah 66:1-2
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is — the house that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my rest?
For — all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word (poor, contrite and trembleth at my word; to walk and exist in Awe of God, to be consumed with wanting to please Him. To this man or woman will God “look,” which means “looking somewhat intensely in a focused way at something;” to regard or watch).
He gave up His life for us because we could NEVER be good enough, holy enough, or pure enough ever to merit seeing the face of God, which means we stood condemned. Yet He could not have that, why? John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that HE sent His only son.” Question, how much love would you need to sacrifice your only son or daughter for someone else?
It’s way beyond me. I could not conceive of sacrificing either of my daughters for someone else. Therefore since He did, it only stands to reason the following; God sets the standard, the requirements for us to know Him. Of that small group of people (narrow is the gate and few there be that find it…Matt.7:13&14), no man or woman can meet the standard without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. So then, where does that leave all the other beliefs and good deeds and actions of good men and women? THEY ALL FALL SHORT because there is no deed done and no heart pure enough that can ever be equal to the Holiness of God. WE must repent, for only judgment awaits if we don’t, but it all can change. Once we understand our sinful state before a Holy God and see His love for us, we have hope.
John 14:23-24
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him ( we are not just anybody now we become God’s Temple! Amazing!
**He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the
Father’s which sent me.** (in that day of judgment, no one can stand before GOD and say that GOD did not do all to save them).
John 10:14-15
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so, know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:27-30
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand (talking about being security). My Father and I are one (Jesus is not “A” God, He is GOD, part of the Trinity).
We are so well protected when we come under God’s righteousness. Trials and hard times don’t stop, they are just part of Life, but they teach us to trust Him, and we learn that He is Big enough to make all things work for our good.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose (many times it doesn’t seem like it, but that is where trust/faith comes in and understanding the Cross, He paid way too much to fail us. It may take time to see “behind the curtain,” but as we trust Him, we mature our faith. And as we mature, we may come to understand the purposes of our hardship, or we may never understand, but knowing that He loves us is all we need to know.
John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (there is perfect harmony in the Trinity of God). And similar when we are right with God, abiding in Him.
Father God,
Thank you for these words. They are hard to read, but they are Life and said in love and for our good. Removing cancer is painful, but it is necessary to save a life. If we are willing to go through so much pain to save our temporal life, should we not care the more to pursue Christ for our Eternal Life? Cause us to heed Your words and follow in Your way. Help us to say no to our flesh and pride and understand that it is my honor to forsake the wants of this life to pursue You, my Savior. Nobody loves me like You. My greatest satisfaction comes from being in a relationship with You and doing Your will. Nothing can touch that.
Thank you,
Your son by Grace,
Arthur
Author’s note – I was sharing with my friend who edits Vida that this Vida reminds me of searching for crawfish with my grandson. We walk along the edge of streams, especially where there is a collection of rocks, and begin to turn them over. As we do, all the dirt and muck trapped under the rocks get washed away by the stream, and when we put the rock back down, it’s all clean. God wants to do the same, turn us over, expose all the sin and shame we are hiding, allow His Holy Spirit to clean us, and then set us down clean and pure. Please allow Him to, there is nothing He does not already know about me or you.
Arthur Navarrette
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