Friday: Further Thought ~ Doing the Unthinkable
Further Study:
“Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. … What must sin be, if no finite being could make atonement? What must its curse be if Deity alone could exhaust it? The cross of Christ testifies to every man that the penalty of sin is death. … Oh, must there be some strong bewitching power which holds the moral senses, steeling them against the impressions of the Spirit of God?” — Ellen G.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
White, Our High Calling, p. 44.
“The law of God’s government was to be magnified by the death of God’s only-begotten Son. Christ bore the guilt of the sins of the world. Our sufficiency is found only in the incarnation and death of the Son of God. He could suffer, because [He was] sustained by divinity. He could endure, because He was without one taint of disloyalty or sin. Christ triumphed in man’s behalf in thus bearing the justice of punishment. He secured eternal life to men, while He exalted the law, and made it honorable.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 302.
Discussion Questions:
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Summary:
Having told about the birth, identity, and career of God’s Deliverer, Isaiah finally reveals the supreme tragedy that gives us hope: To reach, save, and heal lost people, including us, God’s Servant voluntarily bears our suffering and punishment.
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The pastoral metaphors used in Isaiah apply not only to Jesus, they apply to us as well. Consider this:
Having spent my childhood and early youth on a farm in New Zealand, I am very familiar with sheep and their behaviour. During the lambing season we would have to go around the sheep every day, checking whether they were OK. My grandfather was the shepherd in our family and he knew the sheep well. He knew where to look and what to look out for.
He used to say that, given the option of going through a gate to a new pasture or jumping into the creek and drowning, many sheep would choose the latter. I know this to be true because it was my job to jump into the creek after them and rescue them. New Zealand creeks are not known for their warmth!
I have seen the gate opened into new fresh pastures and even though our sheepdogs were herding them to the new fresh clover and ryegrass, they would stand at the gate and stamp their feet and refuse to move forward. They could be remarkably stubborn at times.
I think Isaiah must have been a farming boy in his youth. He understood sheep and used them to illustrate our own characteristics. And while these verses can apply to the Jewish nation and their stubborn refusal to understand the true purpose of the Messiah, does it also apply to us in Spiritual Israel in 2021?
Amen
Bro. Ashton can you give your thoughts on "Jesus magnifies the law".
Thank you
Hi Nadine. It is worth reading the context of that statement:
I get a sense that in Jesus' time as in Isaiah's, people were keeping the letter of the law and using it. I like the emphasis make it honourable and I think the command right at the end "Restore!" summarises the requirement neatly.
Magnify carries with is the sense that we see things clearly and if you look at what Jesus said about law-keeping during his ministry it was much more about what goes on in your head than the specific lawless acts themselves. See Matthew 5 for lots of examples of magnification.
I hope that helps.
And finally, just to be sure, this is not how to be saved, but rather how a saved person thinks and acts.
Thank you Bro. Ashton. You certainly have shed more light which gives me a better understanding.
I do appreciate. May God bless you richly.
Happy Sabbath you and family.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son... John 3:16-17.
The beginning to the ending of Christ life on earth as a human being.
Born through poor parents, no place for his mother to give birth except a stable among animals. Was hunted by men to take his life, parents fled for their lives to a heathen country, brought him us with heathens. Parents collected gifts for him, no one knew what happened with those gifts. Returned, Grew up and was home schooled by young mother who had to listen to divine instructions. Grew up in Nazareth, a poor outcast place. Nothing good came out of Nazareth. Became a man and worked in his father carpenter shop. Father died sometime along the way, grew up with mother alone and other brothers and sisters. Eldest son who bore the responsibilities for the household.
He began his ministry when called by his heavenly father. Lived a life without sin despite the odds were against him. Lived homeless, visited friends and ate by them. Was a true follower of his heavenly father. Came to do his father will and did it well. Men tried to murder him.
After 3 1/2 yrs he gave his life as a ransom for human sins. Sins must have to be a really, really terrible thing that the Son of God came and live the right way and gave his life to save us from the penalties of sin.
The lesson's author poses a very important question: “What must sin be, if no finite being could make atonement?” Throughout my journey as a Christian I gained new insights to questions I have not asked; understanding comes to me after experience, like ‘hindsight is 20/20’. My curiosity and ‘thinking about everything’ approach to life leads me to continue to put the pieces of Salvation’s mystery puzzle together – trying to understand the mind of God who did the ‘Unthinkable’ on behalf of mankind.
I do not look at these lessons as an exercise in intellectual learning, I can only engage in learning because it is spiritual food for my hungry soul. What is being accomplished for my edification if I can answer “how His death is proof of the perpetuity of the law”, but do not understand that God’s Love *IS* Salvation which saves the creatur we call man? Without His Law of Love establishing and governing Heaven, there could not be Love on this earth between man.
Over time my understanding increased regarding the creature - man - as seen with Heaven’s eyes; recognizing that man is truly a creature presently existing outside of its original purpose and design. I have also recognized that it is helpful for the Bible student to go beyond the emotional response to God's intervention on behalf of man. It is needful to complete the emotional picture of our Salvation and use the mind like a ‘detective’ searching to understand the what, who, why, when and how of the matter at hand.
This may sound a bit flippant, but in order to truly understand the bigger picture, it is helpful to increase clarity, to bring into better focus the components that make up man’s Salvation designed by God who designed man and gave him life.
I have come to believe that the creature 'man' in its present fallen spiritual state is synonymous with ‘iniquity/sin’, and any acts done in this state are by their nature ‘sinful’; therefore, the sins of man are the expression of man's inherited iniquity as a fallen creature.
The motivation underlying all efforts employed by the Hosts of Heaven are to persuade man to accept help and so prevent him to be lost to the final death. In this context, I believe the most difficult truth man's mind and will is challenged with is to accept that he is governed/dependent by/on forces and does not govern himself.
1Cor.13:1-13KJV - is, in my opinion, the all-encompassing Truth describing man’s limitations which his always self-focused ego struggles with because he can only look at himself with the mind of his flesh; he lacks the ability to see with the spiritual perspective of Heaven - selfless Love. Our Creator and Heavenly Father spelled it out clearly: v.13: ”And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity - 'LOVE'.”
As I understand it, this resting of man’s being in the Providence of Heaven expressed as Charity/Love, Goodwill, Selflessness, all other-oriented expressions of Heaven’s Love - is what makes the difference for the living soul to either be alive or dead.
For now, God’s Righteousness/Love in Christ is imparted to us only as a *covering*, but sufficient to empower the living soul to engage in heaven's good deeds and sowith express the Father's Love through our living, Him spreading His blessings on our journey through life.
How did Jesus' death magnify the law? Paul wrote to the Romans that "Christ is the 'end' of the law for righteousness...". The word "end" comes from "telos", which means "the point aimed at", or we could say "the goal", or ultimate expression of a thing, in this case, the Law of God.
Jesus' death demonstrated the law's basic principle of love in a way rarely observed. So Jesus' death was an act of love, not an unfortunate case of being falsely accused by wicked men in an unlawful court. Jesus laid down His life, no one took it from Him. He was there on HIS terms, not theirs. He did this so that those who wish to be restored into the image of God could be, and in their own lives magnify the law toward God and their fellow man. If we do not magnify the law in our life, we have not "received Him", or "believed on His name"(John 1:12).