April 19
Josh 19:1-20:9 | PS 88:1-18 | Prov 13:12-14 | Luke 19:28-48
It is so easy to misrepresent Jesus. So, often He is presented as “other worldly, ethereal, sort of in a conversation but also not in a conversation”. I think this is sad. Jesus, though God, walked the Earth very much as a man. He was full of emotion and had no problem showing it. He cared so deeply for us, that is why He did what He did for us. He cared so deeply for us, that is why when anyone rejects Him or is indifferent towards Him, this is not some slight or insignificant offense. He and He alone is worthy to pay the price for our sins. He and He alone knew what the outcome would be for those of us who did not take Him up on this offer. So seek Him. Trust Him. Believe in Him. If things don’t make sense, seek Him that much more. Don’t give up. Don’t cast your only real Hope aside.
We read in Luke 19:41-44, “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”” He was not distant or aloof when He said this. He literally wept. He fulfilled the prophecies, taught with authority, provided miracles, and yet, so many refused to believe. There was still one more thing for Him to do, which was offer Himself as a sacrifice. Jesus made these statements in 33 AD, and His prophetic predictions came true in 70AD, when the temple was destroyed by the Roman armies under the leadership of General Titus. His soldiers lit the temple on fire, and to recover the gold that had melted, they literally didn’t leave one stone upon another. These stones have been found archaeologically alongside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
He then goes from weeping to being angry as we read in Luke 19:45-46, “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ””. He has such a heart for us. He expressed such emotion towards us. So, do you deem it a trivial thing that the vast majorities of those who even claim to be Christian show about as much emotion as watching paint dry? He cared. He gave us His all, shouldn’t we give Him our best. Ignorance is no excuse. Being too busy is no excuse. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Messiah, it should be evident in your words and actions. If you have rejected Him, then there is really no excuse. Please seek Him and change your mind while there is still time, as God stated so emphatically through the prophet Ezekiel in 33:11, “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’”
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: