Category: Knowing God

Writings that emphasize who God has revealed Himself to be and how we can know Him today.

Posted on in Knowing God

Christ, The Suffering Servant

The day we now call “Good Friday” refers to that unique moment in history where the Lord of all creation paid an excruciating price to save His creation from the horror of their own sin for the sake of love. As I think about this, I find myself asking the question:

Do I really understand this whole ‘Jesus died on a cross for my sins’ thing?

Many of Jesus’ disciples were expecting their Christ, whom they had given up everything to follow, to establish His physical kingdom and rule right then and there with them at His side (Luke 22:24; Acts 1:6), and they could never understand why He would tell them He had to die first. What kind of King is this who initiates His rule by dying on a cross? What kind of God is this who takes on our form, so that He could bleed for His rebellious creation?

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matt. 16:21)

The Scriptures clearly prophesy about the Messiah ruling and reigning from Jerusalem as as the earth’s eternal and righteous king (Isa. 9:6-7), but not even those who vigorously studied those prophecies recognized or understood that He would come first as a suffering servant (Isa. 42-53). You see, Jesus not only died for our sins, but He suffered for our sins. That changes things.

“Then Paul…explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead…” (Acts 17:2-3)

When you actually take time to research the brutality of a Roman crucifixion, you are left wondering why such price had to be paid. I mean, it’s one thing to take a bullet for someone, but to give yourself over to be horrifically crucified for someone else’s crimes? God could have came through Christ when capital punishment was quick and relatively humane, but instead He chose to come at a time when the death penalty involved tremendous suffering and humiliation. I feel that I speak for more than myself when I say that I all too often take the cross of Christ for granted. We have such a low view of sin, lacking true conviction for our crimes, that this whole cross thing doesn’t compute for us. If sin has so calloused and twisted the human condition that Jesus had to suffer a savage death in order to reverse the curse we invited on ourselves, then we better take it seriously.

Jesus was not only tormented physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. He experienced full on rejection, betrayal and mockery by the ones He loved, and ultimately He experienced the greatest punishment of all, the feeling of being abandoned by His Father (Matt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1). Though fully God, He chose to put on a full and true humanity so that He could suffer for you. The debt of our sins was so great that only God could pay it off, yet the transaction could not take place unless God took on our flesh to genuinely experience the punishment we deserve. All at once God in Himself felt what it was like to crush His only Son and be forsaken by His Father. His open wounds opened up the door for us that we could never open on our own, and He will forever be acquainted with our grief.

Though the final cause of death when being crucified was supposed to be suffocation, the blood and water that poured out of Jesus’ spear-pierced side revealed that heart failure was the actual cause of death in His situation (Jn. 19:34). His heart literally broke for you in hopes that one day you would look upon His sacrifice and believe in Him for salvation, knowing that you are loved by God.

Summary: God had to come in the flesh through Christ Jesus, so that He could justly redeem all who would believe in Him (Rom. 3:26). The One who brought redemption had to be God because only God could offer a sinless sacrifice and bare the full weight of punishment (2 Cor. 5:18-19). He had to become fully human because He had to actually shed blood in order to atone for our sins (1 Pet. 1:19; Heb. 2:9). Christ had to suffer 1) to fully pay for our sins that we might be reconciled with God 2) to sympathize with us and become our High Priest 3) to demonstrate His love and 4) to serve as an example for those who are persecuted or mistreated for the sake of doing the will of God.

…and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Heb. 9:22)

If Christ has won your heart, or if you want to know more about Him, then I implore you to find a local church to connect and celebrate with this Sunday.

Posted on in Knowing God

The Coming Storm of Glory

A Prayer & Proclamation with Music

I decided to do something a bit different this week by putting a prayer and proclamation to music. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to know and make known the glory of Jesus!

Many have adopted a wrong image of Jesus who has been tamed by our culture, so that He has no authority to make demands on our time, money, energy, lifestyle choices, sexuality and more. Basically, we’ve formed our own version of God who is not worth our worship. This is absolutely catastrophic!

The Scriptures tell us that Jesus not only came and died for our sins, but He’s coming back in glory! All will see and all will know that He’s not a baby in a manger anymore. He’s not a broken man a cross. He didn’t stay in the grave, and He’s not staying in heaven forever. It’s time to wake up and open up the door because we’re about to hear the Lion roar!

The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry…(Isa. 42:13-14)

The Lord reigns; Let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad! Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory. (Ps. 97:1-6)

The Mighty One, God the LORD, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be a [raging storm] all around Him. (Ps. 50:1-3)

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Heb. 4:16, NLT)

Posted on in Knowing God

Mercy: The Antidote for the Hardened Heart

Do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4)

When seen clearly, our hearts are absolutely defenseless against God’s undeserved mercy, and His unreserved kindness. The more we understand the severity of our sinful condition and why we deserve hell, the more the love of Christ can be grasped as something intensely real and personal. It wasn’t when we were at our best that He died for us, but “while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8). I’m convinced that the greatest sign and wonder we can ever witness is not the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead or even fire falling from heaven, but the gospel’s power to transform the human heart in love.

Jesus Christ is the only ‘God’ to ever be described as having eyes like a flame of fire (Rev. 1:14, 2:18, 19:12). Why? Because He is the only one that has full knowledge of us, seeing straight through our façade, knowing all our words, deeds and thoughts, and still He burns with holy desire for us. He knows our life from every angle, He has the full scouting report, and He still says, ‘I want them’ (Jn. 17:24). It’s almost like having Superman’s x-ray vision, except God also sees what’s in our heart. He sees every hidden detail about our past, present and future (Rom. 2:16). We can tell a lot about how someone is feeling by looking into their eyes, for they are often referred to as the windows to our soul. The fire in the eyes of the Lord can tell us two primary things about how He feels when He looks at us: (1) He really loves us (2) He really hates everything that gets in the way of His love. When we truly lock eyes with Him, we will find ourselves in a pure encounter with the fear and love of God, both working together to bring us to the place of godly sorrow and concern for our soul.

The on-ramp to true repentance is not merely the fear of being punished nor the belief that God loves us, but it is experiencing His mercy, knowing what we actually deserve. I consider God’s mercy the glue of the gospel that holds the message of His justice and grace together in perfect harmony. While justice is getting what we deserve and grace is getting what we don’t deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve. It pulls us away from condemnation and pushes us to the place of receiving the Lord’s unmerited favor. This is good news!

Now, there is still more to learn about this beautiful mercy that endures forever. You see, God not only gives mercy, but He DESIRES mercy (Hos. 6:6, Matt. 9:13). He doesn’t give it to us because He has to, but He gives it because He wants to! I’m going to highlight two categories of people (Matt. 9:12):

  1. The people who know they are sick and need a doctor
  2. The people who don’t think they are sick or need a doctor

The people who don’t think they are sick will never seek out a doctor nor appreciate the cure that he offers. They believe they are good enough people because they aren’t bad enough people, and if God sends people like them to hell, they want nothing to do with Him anyway. They are more concerned with how they appear on Facebook instead of how they appear in His book. They are independent yet constantly searching for approval and acceptance, and if there is a God who judges sin, they are relying on their own good deeds and sacrifices to save them.

But the people who know they are sick will do everything they can to find a doctor, and they will deeply appreciate the cure! They know they don’t deserve anything good based on their own merit, and their chief struggle is learning to receive mercy despite knowing the mistakes that are in their wake.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. (Luke 7:36-39) 

This woman was well acquainted with her issues, carrying the perfume she most likely used to prepare herself for paying customers, but hearing that there was one who had the power and authority to forgive such sins, she had to see for herself. As she approached the King of mercy, her heart softened and she was undone, giving Him the only appropriate response of humble adoration. By pouring out the fragrant oil that aided her shameful lifestyle, she was repenting and expressing her faith that Christ alone could save her. Her ashes became a beautiful fragrance of love to God! Though there were several there that would scoff, laugh and despise her for her desperate action, she placed her full confidence in the Lord’s mercy, thus, she was forgiven.

Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. (Luke 7:48, 50)

Our capacity to love God is directly related to the extent we receive His mercy. We need the revelation that God loves to give mercy, and we MUST come and LEARN about it. The more faith we have in God’s mercy, the more power we will have to resist sin, for the struggle is not won by sheer willpower. It’s won by learning to receive His mercy, which will produce an overflow of love, gratitude and a joyful, obedient spirit.

Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. (Luke 7:47)

Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. (Micah 7:18)

Imagine yourself being given Hosea’s assignment, the prophet who was commanded to become the very embodiment of mercy. Go marry that harlot! Says the Lord (Hos. 2:2). After y’all get hitched, she will sleep with anyone she can find, prostitute herself for cheap, and have children by other men, still, I want you to buy her back over and over again. I want to you to do this Hosea, because I want to paint a picture for all to see, a picture of my jealous love and desire to show mercy that ALL might turn back to me! O people of Earth, we are guilty, and we need a Savior!

Before we can see the Cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us. My sins sent Him there and His love took Him there. We are all without excuse. Why would God humiliate Himself and bear such torment and shame by taking up that cursed cross? Our sin is serious, His wrath is real, and His love is relentless.

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. (Ps. 130:3-4)

The goodness of God can only be experienced when we understand the wrath of God. It’s the ultimate one, two punch of the gospel that must be proclaimed if we are going to see real and lasting fruit. To appreciate the good news, we must learn about the bad news.

Behind the fearsome lightning, thunder and fire of His infinite power and glory, sits a beautiful King upon the mercy seat, and He rules from a throne that is surrounded by a rainbow in appearance like an emerald, which represents His unending mercy (Rev. 4). However you come to Christ, you must first come through the storm of His majesty before you can truly know the beauty of His mercy.

Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God…(Rom. 11:22)

Please, show me Your glory (Moses)… I will make all my goodness pass before you (The LORD)… And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty. (Ex. 33:18-19, 34:6-7)

*If you feel the Lord moving on your heart, please find someone you know who loves Jesus and ask them to talk with you about what you are feeling. My prayer is that all would come taste and see the riches of His goodness that leads us to repentance. Also, please feel free to share this article.