Father forgive them for they know not III

 (Isa 9:6)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 Although clearly promised in the Sacred writings the Jewish people still persist in following the rabbinical tradition a tradition which tells them there is no Son of God.

(Pro 30:4)

Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and whatis his son's name, if thou canst tell?

 Proverbs speak of the One Who is Omni-present, the One Who is Omni-potent, the One Who is the Creator and asks about the name of His son.

(Psa 2:12)

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

We are challenged to kiss the Son to do homage unto Him and all who do so are to be blessed.

(Lev 16:32)

And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments:

This Priest is truly the Son ministering in His Father's behalf; and He makes atonement for the tabernacle, for the sanctuary, for the other priests and for the congregation of Israel. This is an everlasting covenant, this atoning work of the Father's only Son.

And now 1400 years after the promise we see the Son pleading the case for His malefactors; appealing to the Father to grant to them His forgiveness.

Mitch Triestman

Father forgive them for they know not II

Before I got married, I was good friends with two young men whose wives had divorced them.  For hours upon hours, they told me their sad stories of huge tangled webs of misunderstandings. They both really wanted to be good husbands, but finally their wives had had enough of them.  I knew one of their wives. When I heard her side of the story, it was hard for me not to disagree that she had just cause for filing for divorce.

So before I got married, I needed to make sure my future wife was a good forgiver. I gave her too many occasions that gave me opportunity to check this out. Almost 35 year later, my wife and I have a very nice relationship. Considering all that has happened over the years, it could be a relationship that has a whole lot of baggage attached to it. But we are both quick to forgive, and almost as quick to receive forgiveness (as receiving forgiveness requires one to acknowledge that he is in the wrong).

I’m so glad that the first words the Lord Jesus spoke while on the cross were, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  In the very middle of a horrible offense against Him, His first thought was our imperative need for forgiveness. 

Father, forgive them for they know not I

“Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

When I was a kid my father had a saying, “It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.” He would use this proverb whenever he believed there to be extenuating circumstance, uncertainty or exceptions concerning that might allow him to exceed the speed limit or go up the down escalator. Of course, every time I attempted to apply this saying as a child, I found both forgiveness and permission to be equally elusive. I was often met with the chiding, “you should know better.”

Israel should have known better. They had no reasonable excuse for crucifying anyone, let alone their Messiah. And yet Christ suggests that they be offered leniency on the grounds of ignorance.

We all require grace on the basis of ignorance. Just like Israel, none of us fully recognize the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Despite having the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the totality of nature revealing to us the preeminence of Christ, we still seem to think that there are also other things going on in this world outside of Him and that these other things are what matter. None of us know what we do, Father forgive us all.

Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani XIV

(Our electricity has been out since Monday. With the electricity back--our blog is back)

When our Lord Jesus cried out,  "Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani," He was quoting the Psamist. And in quoting the Psalmist, He was also fulfilling prophesy which nobody before that time had any idea was a prophetic Psalm. And He was identifying with mankind to the deepest depth of our humanity.

Of course none of this was play acting. When Jesus cried out, His cry was a totally real cry of one feeling all the pain of being forsaken by God.

But this very real cry was so staged, so planned, so contrived. To use a profane comparison, it was like a joke that nobody knew was a joke until they heard the punch line.

Every day it is so hard for us humans not to accuse God with questions of, "how is this fair?" and "God, where are you in all of this?"

 

With this cry of The Lord Jesus, we get a large part of the answer, He has not forsaken us, He's in it with us. 

The Psalmist goes on to say out of his own experience, "He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted." We know that to be true for God's Beloved Son was the Afflicted One who is now highly exalted, and making intercession for us poor lonely souls.

Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani XIII

My almost ten year old Granddaughter confessed to me that sometimes she doubts her salvation.

It was interesting to note that on that very same day a minister of the Gospel of twenty five years experience made the same confession. I attempted to encourage them both with the same statement. I never met an unbeliever who had doubts. The lost seem to either know that they are lost and just don't care. Or they are confident that they are just fine in their standing with God.

Jesus cried, ”My God why hast thou forsaken me.  But no believer in Jesus has to ask such a question.

On those occasions when I have felt that God had forsaken me, I never had to ask for a reason. I always am aware of several reasons: my thought life, my attitude, my emotions, my actions.

A favorite expression of my father was, "Beat your children every day. If you don't know why, they do!"

We present to the Lord a plethora of reasons why we should be forsaken. There is only one reason why He doesn't. Because Jesus was forsaken for us.

Mitch Triestman

Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani XII

Throughout His time on earth, Christ is almost universally misunderstood. He speaks with an authority that other rabbis do not have, so His teachings are challenged. He accomplishes miracles that other men of God cannot do, so His power is challenged. He behaves as one who is “under the law,” as no one else does; and “over the law” as no one else can, so His conduct is challenged. Both the antagonists and advocates of Christ consistently and reliably misunderstand His Person, purpose and plan.

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani” are the only words Matthew and Mark record Jesus speaking from the cross. Just like much of the rest of His life, the dying words of Christ were misunderstood. One man, on hearing Christ speak, offered Him sour wine. Perhaps this was to momentarily revive Jesus, to clear His throat so that He might more clearly explain Himself.

There need not be ambiguity in the words or work of the Father or the Son. Any uncertainty, misunderstanding or confusion we may have about the will of God, the word of God or the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ is not because God did not speak clearly enough.

Daniel 

Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani XI

The last hitch-hiker I picked up was a native American woman.
When I pulled over to let her in the car, I saw that half of her face and one of her arms was badly scarred from burns.

In a very short time she was telling me her story. Her boyfriend had gotten mad and threw some gas on her, and then threw his lit cigarette at her.

“He was drunk,” she said. “I’m still living with him.”

She explained to me she had to live some place.

I asked her if she had any support network, like a church.

At the mention of church her face became red with anger. For five minutes she told me what a lousy place this church had been to her when she had asked for help.

I felt very for bad her. 

“Have you ever asked Jesus for help?” I asked.

She beamed a big smile. “Oh yes,” she said. “I know Jesus. I love Jesus.”

This poor poor woman.
So forsaken.
She knew Jesus, who also had been so forsaken, would not turn her away.