His payment
Deuteronomy 32:43, “Rejoice, O nations, with His people ; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.”
As I read some parts of the Old Testament it’s not hard for me to understand why the Jews rejected Jesus. God laid forth the idea that He would conquer all the adversaries of His people, so when Jesus came as a “political nobody” it was not what the Jewish nation had in mind. They had the vision that the Messiah of God would come in like a conquering King to destroy those who stood in the way of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus will one day come back to conquer the world by force, but His first coming was to prepare the hearts of men. The Jewish people of His day rejected that idea because it put everyone on the same level that they were on. They feared that they were losing their “favoritism”, but the Bible reminds us that there is no favoritism in the Kingdom of God; all people are created in the image of God, and all people are favorites of God.
The Jewish nation was scared that they were going to lose something they never had. They had a dream that they were superior to everyone else, and when Jesus came to share the love of God with everyone they felt threatened. They could no longer hold their “spiritual superiority” over people. In their mind Jesus threatened their dream, and dreams can be a very powerful motive. The dream that they had was not supported by even their own Scriptures. It was assumed by them that because they were the recipients of God’s message of love that they were the only ones it was for, but when God appeared to Abram He said to him: Genesis 12:1 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great ; And so you shall be a blessing ; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
The blessings of God that were given to Abraham were for everyone, so when Jesus proclaiming God’s love for everyone the Jews had to shut Him up. But, I praise God that His love cannot be silenced. Three days after Jesus made the perfect payment for sin that God required He came forth from the tomb, and through Him we can all join God in His glorious Promised Land!
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Father God, I thank You for giving the perfect gift of Your Son, so that everyone who calls on His name can share in the blessings You have prepared. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at:http://mixsbrainy23.blogspot.com/2011/01/crucifixion-of-jesus-christ.html
Yes, You Can Ministry 