ME AND YOU TOO?

Time with Jesus - Monday, 11 March 2013

Jim & Phyllida in Paris

We love kitties!

Hi all,

In today’s introduction, I mentioned that I am the one who drove the nails. I haven’t been able to locate the book. I think it was the late Rev Dr W E Sangster but am not certain. In my search on Google, I found a song written by Ben Sharplin in 2012 which says much the same. I’ve included part of it below for information.

I wasn’t there the day that Jesus stood before the mob. / To answer accusations about his teachings and his love.

I didn’t see them hit him or spit upon his face / But this I know for certain about what did take place.

It was my hand that drove the nails that held him to the wood / My voice that cried out “Kill Him” as in the crowd I stood.

And as he cried out “forgive them they know not what they do” / He cried out for me He cried out for me; he cried out for you.

I was not among the ones who watched his body whipped; I didn’t hear his cries of pain as they hit him with their fists.

And I didn’t watch him stumble on the long way up the hill. / But although 2000 years ago, my eyes with tears are filled.

I wonder if there are others reading today’s meditation who identify with this?

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland 

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Monday, 11 March 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	Me and You Too?
What do we really know about God? Not very much! It’s a bit like asking fish what they think about water? They can’t answer because they have no voice. Even if they could speak, what could they tell us about the substance in which they live? In a way, it’s much like that with our knowledge of God. We know that in Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28) But what do we really know about Him? We know He is unknowable! It seems a contradiction. He dwells in a different dimension to us. It is timeless and changeless. We have no idea what this is like. The little we do know is what He has chosen to reveal. But we know Jesus. At least we think we do. We have the account of His life recorded in the four Gospels. They show us something of His nature. He is revealed as very human. At the same time we are informed that He is God! As investigators we are inclined to say, “Which bit is man and which bit is God? Left eye, right eye; left ear, right ear. That seems logical. But logic is not always correct. We are taught that He was 100% man and 100% God. That sounds like 200%. But it isn’t. In the early Church, this topic was discussed and argued over extensively. It was settled at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and adopted at the First Council of Constantinople in 381AD. Anglicans among us will remember the Nicene Creed from their prayer book. Why is it important? Well, He had to be 100% man or He could not die for us. He had to be 100% God for His death to be efficacious for all of us. So we end up with this paradox. To be 100% human meant that He was emotionally, physically and mentally just like us. I’m inclined to say 100% similar to us, but think this is skating on thin ice. What is meant is that every inch of Him was male “homo sapiens”. He had to be just as “male” as Adam had been. The only person, who could take back from Satan what Adam had given him, had to be fully human. He had to be a least as human as Adam had been. No more and no less. He also had to be completely sinless. Jesus complied in every way. He was as human as you and me and as divine as His Father. One man for one man is a valid “deal”. One God, for all humanity, is a valid “deal”. Thus one Jesus is a valid “deal” for all humanity. Satan was never going to win! Not ever! Our meditation today looks at His humanity. It takes a glance at His Divinity. It concludes by asking who was responsible for the crucifixion. The answer I give is not my original idea. I read it in a book many years ago. I’m not sure of the author’s name. Never mind. The conclusion is as real today as it was when I first read it. Jim & Phyllida Strickland			33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" John 11:33-36 TNIV 3 He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, we didn't consider him to be worth  Isaiah 53:3 GW anything. 15 We have a high priest who can feel it when we are weak and hurting. We have a high priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. But he did not sin. Heb. 4:15 NIrV 10 It makes good sense that the God who got everything started and keeps everything going now completes the work by making the Salvation Pioneer perfect through suffering as he leads all these people to glory. Heb. 2:10 MSG 8 Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do Heb. 5:8 MSG 5 The Almighty LORD will open my ears. I will not rebel, nor will I turn away from him. 6 I will offer my back to those who whip me and my cheeks to those who pluck hairs out of my beard. I will not turn my face away from those who humiliate me and spit on me. Isaiah 50:5-6 GW 16 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; He came to help the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore, it was necessary for Him to be made in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then He could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Heb. 2:16-17 NLT	Jesus’ humanity is quite astonishing. We know He is the Son of God; that He made everything. We know He formed the mountains, on which He came to preach. Before He barbecued the fish, he also made the beach! The earth and all upon it are here by His design. So how can someone human, be someone Who’s Divine? I wish I had an answer. I only know it’s true. The one, who had created life, came here for me and you. He made the very minerals from which they forged the nails. He made the trees which made His cross. My comprehension fails! How could someone exalted, above the very sky, Come to earth to be with us and for us all to die? But He was also human. He came here as a man. Nothing of the Trinity was seen in His great plan. He came here as a nobody; our God in overalls. He learned to suffer, felt our pain and heard our God-ward calls. We know He had emotions. We even saw Him weep. And He could get exhausted. So much, He needed sleep. The prophets told us of Him. They said He’d be despised. Rejected by His people. His Godhood was disguised! He learned by what He suffered, the same as you and I. He even let them whip Him, before they watched Him die. They mocked and spat upon Him. They pulled His beard out too. He prayed, “Father forgive them. They know not what they do!” They nailed a sign above His head. It said “King of the Jews”. But He was so much more than that. They didn’t get the news; The one that they had crucified and hanged upon that tree, Was truthfully the Son of God, Who died for you and me! As I think about it, it makes me cringe and wilt. I shake my head acknowledging, for me His blood was spilt. Because I know for certain, that I drove home those nails. I know for sure, I turned the lock that kept Him in their jail. The whip they used to flog Him. I held it in my hand. And every detail of the deed was done by my command. Could such a thing be possible; that I should take the blame? I may as well have done it. For Him it was the same. To murder God Almighty, was no collective act. I must have been involved somewhere! I know that as a fact. For all the dreadful things I’d done. The murderer was me. And yet in spite of all of it, He said He’d set me free! That is the greatest miracle that I have ever seen. The very one who did it all, by Him has been washed clean. So now what can I give Him? My heart and mind and soul? The very life inside of me is under His control! And there are many others who toiled with me that day. Perhaps you too are one of them? My friend, what do you say? Jim Strickland Written 11th March 2012