The young
lad of twelve, in the temple in Jerusalem, was interested in more than a ‘Bar Mitzvah’. He knew God as His Father and knew that He
was on a mission according to God’s will ( Luke 2.49 )
After Jesus was identified and anointed by the Holy Spirit at
the river Jordan, He eventually went to Nazareth and in the synagogue He opened
the scroll of the Old Testament at
Isaiah 61. After reading the prophecy of a Messiah who would bring mercy to the
people, He turned and said,” Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing “. He knew His calling as Messiah, the Christ.
Another day He said to a cripple man, “
Your sins are forgiven you “. Correctly
the religious leaders said “who can
forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus knew
their reasoning and reinforced the point
- He could forgive sins (as God) as well as reverse the sickness flowing from sin. He knew their thoughts and
He knew who He was.
On various occasions ( as the feeding
of 5000 ) , the people wanted to make Him their leader and king. To any
ambitious Rabbi, this would have been the moment of opportunity, but for the
Lord of glory, man’s approval and praise was a very small thing. He knew His
path of service was determined by the Father’s will, which meant sacrifice not
success. (John 10)
When it came to His teaching and
parables, much indicated that He knew the future development of the Kingdom of
God. e.g. the sowing of the seed, the growth as a mustard seed etc and the
later parables include the king departing for a long time, later to return to
reap the harvest and reward His faithful ones. All earthly kings establish
themselves in power and glory, knowing it will not last.
This king saw His future beyond the horizon and in God’s time. He knew tomorrow like today.
Some of His
prophetic utterances have already been fulfilled. This gives credence to those
yet to be fulfilled. A very obvious one is the prophecy regarding the destruction of the temple – He said”
the days will come when there will not be left one stone upon another” (Luke
21.6). This is precisely what happened
in AD 70. Others could be quoted.
As the days of service to the people
passed, his face turned to Jerusalem.
Not there to be crowned, but from
His own lips He identified the greater purpose of His journey – to die as a
ransom, to give His life for the sheep, to give His flesh for the life of the
world, to be lifted up, reconciling the world unto Himself. It was this burden that was slowly and deliberately revealed to the twelve Apostles. He knew He
would be rejected by the leadership of the Jews. He knew He would be betrayed.
He detailed to them that He would be handed over to the Gentiles for mockery,
insults, and unjust execution. But interestingly, most of these foretelling concluded
with Him announcing that He would rise again from the dead. ( Luke 9.22 , 44 etc ) To add to the significance of
this foretelling, in Luke 24, the angel said “Remember how He spoke to you”. He knew the tomorrow of suffering, but turned not away from it.
Many more foretellings are to be searched out e.g. as Jonah, as Moses
lifted up the serpent..., a baptism to be baptised, the beloved son killed etc.
I come
closer to His last visit to Jerusalem -
He weeps over the city because He knew they would make the wretched choice to reject Him. As He approached the city, He knew the correct
prophetic way from the Old Testament, for the Messiah to present himself to the
people. He mounts the donkey and this time accepts the praise and hosanna’s of
the crowd. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”
This is no ordinary man - this is the Son of God who knew all things!
This is no ordinary man - this is the Son of God who knew all things!
To be
continued – Comments and questions johnmckee@internode.on.net
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