Friday, March 19, 2010

"Saving Yourself", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Matt. 27:39 - "And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads..."

Matt. 27:40 - "...and saying, 'You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' "

Here we see the casual dismissal of Christ.

"Those who passed by." The basically uninformed. Those with just enough knowledge of a situation to hurt themselves but not ever do any good.

They paused to mock Jesus and deride Him based upon a misunderstanding of His words.

He never said He would destroy the temple of Jerusalem and rebuild it in three days.

He was referring to Himself as being the Temple of God and that He would be destroyed upon a cross but be resurrected in three days (all of which came to pass). (John 2:19)

He also compared Himself to Jonah and the whale..

He said, "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12:40

Even the religious Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and Sadducees, should have known exactly what Jesus was saying when He claimed to be the Chosen One, the prophecied Messiah.

What's changed in 2,000 years?

Not much. Even with the knowledge we have gained, and the presence of the Church in essentially every part of the world, people still take issue with Jesus and accuse and reject Him without knowing the facts about Him.

We cannot, nor should we, judge Jesus Christ based upon the testimony of others good or bad.

We should make our own assessment based upon seeking Him personally. Anything else is pure ignorance and speculation.

Want to know if Jesus is who He says He is?

Then do the right thing and ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

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