Publication
SHEPHERD'S GUIDANCE
THE GOSPEL TRUTH
Shepherd's Guidance 4/2020
April 4th, 2020
The Gospel Truth
Herod was the king who ruled over the Jews in Holy Land. He was very worried when the wise men enquired the whereabouts of the newborn King of the Jews. He thought to himself, “I am not a Jew and I am ruling over the Jews, now there is a threat to my throne”. He made up his mind to get rid of Jesus though He was supposed to be two years old by now. Though he had contributed a lot financially to build the Temple of the Jews, he never placed his trust on the Lord of the Temple. All he cared for was his own throne. With political power, he could enjoy all the things he craved for in this life. He even shed the blood of his family members when he had any suspicion of their loyalty. Even the iron fisted Roman authority pitied his family members. Such was the thinking of an insecure political leader. He just believed in himself only. Herod did not know Christ came to set up the Kingdom of God. His kingdom is not of this world. None of His disciples were trained to draw sword against the government. Christ never taught to establish His kingdom by physical force. His kingdom is established by the gospel truth. His kingdom is of spiritual nature.
In Matthew 16:21, 17:22 Jesus our Lord mentioned about His suffering, death and resurrection. In Matthew 20:17-19, He emphasized these truth again. He spoke to His disciples privately. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The disciples of Christ did not seem to digest these gospel truth well, as we can see it in their attitudes. They were still having great concern of who will be the greatest in the Last Supper with Christ. What a sad picture.
Christ felt the burden to pray with them. The fact that He is going to suffer and die put a great stress on the disciples. They just cannot accept such disappointing truth. Jesus should have defeated all His enemies, judging from the power He had in performing miracles. He should not suffer and die. The truth is that the Son of Man, the Messianic title of Jesus was going to be betrayed and condemned to death by the Jewish council members. After that He would be delivered to the non-Jewish authority to be mocked, scourged and crucified. That would be the most horrible and shameful death for anyone. But He shall rise again on the third day. Though the disciples believed in physical resurrection of the dead, they just cannot accept such truth for the Saviour.
The Jews were taught to believe their Messiah would be a conqueror. He is a hero that will put down His enemies, not the other way round. Now their Master seems to portray that He is a zero. They are very shocked to say the least. What is their master trying to tell them is unbelievable. He has used His power to save others, why couldn’t He save Himself. There are times that the scriptural truth will not be accepted by us because we were taught otherwise for ages. We may prefer to cling to our incorrect belief and refused to accept clear biblical teaching. That will be our loss.
Jesus our Lord came to execute the will of the Heavenly Father. He did not come to do the will of men. Though He was born as a Jew, He did not follow their natural mind. He did not get rid of the foreign political power that rule over the Jews by using His supernatural ability. Rather He suffered willingly according to the will of God the Father. Without the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God, there would not be forgiveness of sin. That is the unchangeable will of God. Christ Jesus must die, be buried and rise again. Otherwise He had not finished His mission on earth. According to the prophecies of Isaiah 50 and 53, the King of the Jews would be treated like the most despicable criminal.
The Jews read and read the Old Testament and did not understand. That is the sad fact. The Lord Jesus must be rejected by them and die outside Jerusalem, the city of peace. For a famous rabbi like Saul of Tarsus, he never understand this truth by his natural mind until Christ revealed to him. That was why he used all his zeal to persecute the Jewish church members and thought he was doing will of God. After he was saved by Christ, he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God…For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be reminded by the gospel truth, Christ Jesus our Lord must die, buried and rise from the dead. That is the divine way of salvation of the Jews and non-Jewish people. That is the power and wisdom of God. There is no other way of salvation. Do not turn to the left and right. Hold on to the truth and lead others to the truth. Do not let false teachers hoodwink you.