February 22, 2010

Exodus 5

Pharaoh: Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go!

Moses: Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.

Sometimes the glory of the Lord cannot be seen until evil has been allowed to show its worst. Sometimes even God’s own people do not recognize that He is working when evil is doing its worst.

Does Pharaoh’s ignorance of the glory of the Lord lessen the glory any? Not in the least. It only reveals his ignorance of God. Does my ignorance of the name of the quarterback who led the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl lessen his glory any? Not in the least. It only reveals my ignorance of the quarterback. If I remain ignorant of His name, it is my fault, and I am the loser. Pharaoh remained ignorant, indeed insisted on remaining ignorant, of the glory of the name of the Lord. He lost.

Does Moses’ momentary despair in the midst of this darkness diminish the glory of the Lord? I watched the first quarter of the Super Bowl this year (2010). Leaving at the beginning of the second quarter to run an errand, I was certain the game was going to be a blow out. I was certain New Orleans was going to be overrun by Indianapolis. I did come back to watch the second half. Boy was I wrong! I am glad I didn’t let my despair turn my back on the game. It was worth watching. What if Moses had given up on the Lord’s glory at this point? Sometimes we just have to hang in there. The Lord will eventually show His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john

Mark 3:20-35

Have you ever been publicly accused of being something less than what you actually were? If you have, then you know a little bit about the pain of Jesus in this story. The scribes were obviously reasoning:

Only God and Satan are more powerful than demons.
Jesus overpowers demons.
Jesus cannot be using God’s power.
Therefore Jesus must do this by Satan’s power.
Wow! Talk about missing the mark! Talk about something less! Even Jesus’ family thought He had lost His mind. His own mother and siblings came to collect Him and quietly put Him away somewhere. Did Jesus rail against the accusations? No. But He did show the logical inconsistency of their reasoning, and He did reveal His love for anyone who would yield to His will.

It is interesting to note that Matthew’s Gospel, where the theme is Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God, has Jesus’ statement, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you!” But Mark whose theme is Jesus is the Servant of God leaves the statement out. It matters not who the servant is, but what matters is whose servant He is. So Jesus gives a warning not about rejecting or blaspheming Him but about blaspheming the One by Whom He worked the power, the Holy Spirit.

Don’t miss the point about His glory here! Jesus, the Man, is the Powerful One because He does all that He does by the power of the Powerful One, God the Holy Spirit. This world was laying in the power of a strong man. Ever sin Adam and Eve sinned, Satan had made planet earth his house. Over the centuries and millennia Satan and his hosts has enslaved men and women by enticing them into sin according to their own lusts. Satan has made this world to be his goods. He is a strong foe. We are unable to overcome Him. However, Jesus, the God-Man, came and by His death and resurrection He bound Satan, the strong man. Jesus is the Powerful One. Now, to His glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can plunder the house of Satan! What would we want from the house of Satan? People! People who are enslaved by the bondage of sin. People for whom Jesus died. It is for His glory that we proclaim liberty to them that they might be taken from the house of Satan to the house of the Father! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John