Lord, I Want to See! (Luke 18:35-43)

In the Old Testament, there is no record of opening the eyes of blind. However, Jesus Christ opened the eyes of blind in several occasions as Prophet Isaiah prophesied. The Lord God says, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:6-7) Jesus came as the Messiah of God to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. It indicates there is something seriously wrong in humanity. In fact, man is born blind and captive in prison, sitting in darkness. How has it happened? It has happened when the first man, Adam, disobeyed God by listening to his wife. Life is all connected and shared. No one can live alone in no-man’s island. That is what we are. We’re all in Adam. It tells us the truth that every man must be opened from blindness, freed from prison and released from the dungeon of darkness and confusion. Jesus says, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (John 9:41) This story tells who is qualified to receive sight and most of all how and why it is possible.

“As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Lord, I want to see,’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.” (Luke 18:35-43)

The time, the narrator tells, is for our Lord Jesus is approaching the city of Jericho. It was a historical place, the fortified and invincible fortress, but was conquered and destroyed by the forefathers led by Joshua. It was the first warfare the Israelites encountered in the land of Canaan after crossing the Jordan River on foot. They didn’t use any weapons but simply and faithfully obeyed the commandments of the Lord God and walked around the city seven days and on the seventh day they shouted followed by the sound of trumpet. When they obeyed the Commander in Chief in heaven the fortress city was crumbled and destroyed completely. They experienced the mighty hand of God working powerfully right before their eyes and worshipped him. Jericho clearly set the tone of how the battle would be look like in the land. It’s Jehovah’s holy war. I am sure that our Lord Jesus must be listening to the cry of victory of the people, the song of praise and wonder in the heavenly places. In fact, our Lord was there, overseeing and orchestrating the entire procession of battle from the beginning to the end as the Commander in Chief.

Actually, he is heard a cry, the cry of blind beggar who is sitting by the roadside begging. It is not a cry of victory, but a cry of mercy and begging. The man has been sitting by the roadside begging and heard the crowd going by he asks what’s happening. Some people reply to him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” When he hears the name of Jesus his eyes of mind are fully awakened and he immediately makes an orphan cry of help, shouting “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” All those years of sitting by the roadside begging he has been waiting for this moment of calling the holy name, “Son of David.” As soon as he makes a noise, he has faced the counter pressure and rebuke to be quiet from the anonymous people. However, he doesn’t care the pressure and opposition and shouts all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” His cry of help quickly reaches to the heaven, the universe headquarters situation room, and the Father quickly tells the Son to take care of him. The blind beggar’s orphan cry of calling the most scared name, Jesus, Son of David is heard loudly by the Father of mercy and compassion. It has not only been heard but also an urgent message with top priority has been sent out immediately to the One sent by the Father in the right spot for delivering the answer of cry.

Though King of kings and Lord of lords, the Blessed Son of David, Jesus is approaching Jericho, no one shouts of his coming as King and Lord. But the blind man cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Again, resisting the rebuke of people, shouts, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” The name, Son of David, is the most scared name in Israel. It indicates the Blessed Messiah of God. Prophet Isaiah prophesied the Lord God would send a son born of a virgin and call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). In another place, the prophet gives the marvelous vision of the Messiah of the Lord.

“For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Although the man is physically blind, he has known who Jesus of Nazareth is and has accepted him as Son of David. While he has been sitting by the roadside begging all along, he has been wanting to see him, Son of David. His inner eyes have been opened by grace and mercy from the heaven above to know and believe in Jesus, and he puts his hope in Son of David. He has received the gift of faith to put his whole trust in Jesus of Nazareth. It’s not known how long he has been sitting there begging, but must be quite a long. Is it possible for him to miss Jesus passing by? Not possible! Although the multitudes of people who can see physically miss to identify Jesus, it is not possible to this man who cannot see physically because the heaven watches over him. See how he is told. The crowd tell him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He doesn’t ask back who Jesus of Nazareth is. Rather, he immediately calls out loudly the name that he has been waiting to call all along since he has been known the most blessed One by grace and mercy. He doesn’t call out the name aimlessly and pointlessly in the air. Probably, the people around think that he is going nowhere, so they rebuke him to be quiet. Both the crowd and the man are in the same space and time where our Lord Jesus is approaching the city of history, but only the blind man knows what to say, how to say, and why to say such a heaven-opening words, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

How can our Lord Jesus miss to hear this orphan’s cry for mercy? It is impossible! What a comfort and blessing for the believers in God! Not a single cry for mercy will not be missed to reach out to the heaven where our Father is watching over with eyes like blazing fire. Prophet Isaiah so aptly says about his compassionate heart, saying “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.” (Isaiah 42:3) So, Jesus stops and orders man to be brought to him. When the man approaches to him, Jesus says, “What do you want me to do for you?” It sounds like a simple and easily answerable question, but it is truly not. This question is spoken from none other than the One who has all power in heaven and on earth. It is very difficult to answer because we’ve been blinded to ask one thing so crucial and significant in our lives when asked suddenly and unexpectedly. Although it seems so obvious to know what is in want for the man, Jesus asks him because he wants to know what the man really wants him to do. Jesus knows already what he is in want. Jesus says, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

The man says to Jesus, “Lord, I want to see.”  These five words are the ones the Lord wants to hear. What does he mean by “Lord, I want to see.” First of all, he admits that he is blind, so he doesn’t see. This is so significant to admit the fact that he is blind and does not see. King David, a man after God’s own heart, was completely blinded and deceived by the devil that he committed the twin sins of evil—adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah. Until King admitted his blindness and evil when Prophet Nathan uncovered the sins he was being tormented and haunted day and night by the evil. He was blind and locked in prison, sitting in darkness until the delivery of cure arrived from the Lord God in heaven through the hand of Prophet Nathan. It was a painful procedure to release him from dungeon because the evil should be exposed. It’s entirely on God’s grace and mercy only that can reach to the dungeon of evil forces and rescue and deliver the victims. His grace and mercy is based on the priceless and incomparable sacrifice of Son of David, Jesus Christ. King David knew that no other sacrifices could reach to the victim like him except repentance through a contrite and broken heart before God.

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17)

Secondly, beyond he wants to see his parents, nature, scenery, and himself, I believe he means to see the incarnate God, Jesus, Son of David with his own eyes. He has already been given inner sight to see and believe in Son of David. He has put his whole trust in the Blessed One to come since he was given the gift of faith from the heaven above. So, when he says he wants to see means to see the Blessed Lord of glory with his own eyes, whom God sent according to the promises given to the forefathers. He has already believed in Son of David and now he wants to see clearly who Son of David is. His vision is not yet clear to see the Messiah’s full picture, because he is blind under the powerful grip of evil. It tells a great truth that although evil is forcefully working in humanity not to see clearly the mighty presence of God in their midst it never can prevail over it. “What is impossible with man is possible with God,” says our Lord Jesus (Luke 18:27). As long as we live in this life on earth we cannot get over evil, lurking behind invisibly to devour us like a roaring hungry lion. Darkness, boredom, emptiness, depression, anger, hatred, frustration, distress, tiredness, complaints are the manifestations of evil force in the midst of daily routines. No one is free from such powers of evil and must face it moment by moment. How deeply are we thirsty and hungry for excitement, enthusiasm, vigor, zest, strength, and even in the fullest? Apostle Paul so aptly describes the deepest desire of humanity in the Epistle to the Romans the Eighth Chapter.

“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:23-25)

However, this is not the end of story. There is a good news. It is that evil is not out of the boundary of the Lord God but under the full control of the Sovereign God. In fact, the devil is one of God’s made who rebelled against the Maker and Master of the universe. He is more cunning and shrewd than any other creatures God made. He is ever formidable and impenetrable than any other animals God made. But it doesn’t mean that he is out of control or beyond the Creator because he is in full submission to the Lord. God reveals the deep mysteries of the serpent and how he handles it in the Book of Job.

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook

or tie down its tongue with a rope?

Can you put a cord through its nose

or pierce its jaw with a hook?

Will it keep begging you for mercy?

Will it speak to you with gentle words?” (Job 41:1-3)

Genesis Chapter 3 records the most decisive and tragic incident in human history. The devil deceived the woman and she ate God-forbidden tree and gave to Adam and he ate it. It’s called the fatal fall of race as Paul puts it in Romans Chapter 5, saying “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Since the fall of man, the powerful forces of evil of darkness and confusion has been overshadowing and even trying to wreck the human lives like through wars, drug overdoses, pornographies. But the evil never shapes and controls the human race. God solemnly pronounced the destiny of the devil in Genesis Chapter 3 that he is always in humiliation and frustration and will be destroyed forever by the hand of God.

“So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)

The forces of evils must be destroyed and will be done as our Lord promised. There will be the Day of the Lord when Satan will be punished and judged and thrown into the fiery furnace, the blackest dungeon of darkness forever. But in order to save the elect, God is allowing the dark forces of evil in our midst not because he is not able to punish him but because he is gracious and faithful to reach out the lost ones, being deceived and blinded by the evil forces. We’re all the victims of the evil. We’ve been delivered by the power of God through the blood of Christ. So, in Christ, we don’t have to choose to sin but oftentimes we do sin. It will be continuing until the redemption of our body which is the seat of sin, the flesh. However, the Scripture says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) There is no sin which cannot be forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ if we confess.

Our Lord Jesus hears what the blind man wants to do and thus delivers the message of the Father in heaven, saying “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” (Luke 18:42) The compassionate Father heals the blind man by giving him sight to see clearly the incarnate God, Son of David with his own eyes. God has given him the gift of faith to believe in Son of David and so he has acted his faith by calling the most holy name in heaven and on earth, “Son of David.” Also, he begs him for mercy. When asked what he wants him to do, he clearly answers him that he wants to see. This tells that beyond what he sees, he wants to praise and thank and worship God in heaven who sent the Blessed Messiah in keeping his promises faithfully. Beyond what he sees, he wants to follow the Lord of glory and obey him as token of many thanks. As soon as Jesus speaks to him, “Receive your sight,” immediately, he has received his sight and follows Jesus, praising God. When all the people see it, they also praise God. It proves that his faith is genuine and authentic because he doesn’t go his own way but follows Jesus, praising God. It means he continually lives by faith in Son of David, even after he has received his sight. Surely, God will bless this man to see continually what God is acting and doing in the midst, following Jesus Christ the Lord.

Prayer: Our Blessed Father in heaven, thank you for blessing the blind man who admits that he is blind and doesn’t see, answering his orphan cry for mercy to Son of David, the Blessed Messiah of God. Thank you Father for your compassion and mercy for those who earnestly ask for mercy and pity by faith. May God bless us to be like this blind man, admitting that we are blind and don’t see clearly and so crying to Jesus for mercy to give sight. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

September 25, 2016

© 2015-2016 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

God the Father Bruised the Son Jesus Christ (Luke 18:31-34)

We all are like the rich young ruler who went away sad because he had great wealth when Jesus said to him to sell everything he had and to give to the poor and follow him. When our Lord Jesus sees the man leaving sad, he says to his disciples, “Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Then, the disciples are asking to the master, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus gives his answer, saying “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Now, our Lord Jesus gives the answer how God is going to make what is impossible possible.

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’ The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.” (Luke 8:31-34)

The way to restore the lost people is for the Son Jesus Christ to go up to Jerusalem to be condemned to death and crucified on a cross for the sin of the world. This is the only way, the life, and the truth for humanity. It is for Jesus to come into the world that he would take up the cross of sin and death upon his body and be sacrificed as the lamb of God, offering his holy blood before the Father in the heavenly sanctuary. It is for Jesus to com into the world that he would be mocked, insulted, spitted on him, flogged and killed. It is written by the prophets about the Son of Man and everything would be fulfilled. Why would the Son of Man be suffered much and crucified like a criminal?

First, everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man must be fulfilled. After Adam fell, the Lord spoke to him and revealed the restoration plan for humanity. It is written in Genesis 3:15. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” As it was prophesied and promised to Abraham, it was the time for the Lord to deliver his people out of the bondage of Egypt. For that, God sent Moses and called him as the deliverer. But King Pharaoh stubbornly refused to send his people to worship the Jehovah God. Consequently, he invited the ten judgment plagues upon him and the land of Egypt. The tenth plague is to kill all the firstborns of Egypt from the king to the slaves. However, the Lord commanded Moses to prepare a special meal for his people, by slaughtering male lambs or goats on the night of death plague and putting the animal’s blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes of every house of Israel. The angel of death passed over the house of Israel where the blood of animals had been sprinkled on the doorframes as commanded. The animal sacrifice is the symbol of the death of the Son Jesus Christ. All offerings prescribed by the Lord God written in the Book of Leviticus requires the blood of animals, which signifies that any worshiper cannot come God without blood.

“The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.” (Exodus 12:5-8)

The Psalmist prophesied the vivid picture of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ in Psalm Chapter 22. It starts with the Son’s cry on the cross in Calvary, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1) What is written in the psalm was fulfilled in history as the orphan cry of Jesus was heard loudly, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!” Prophet Isaiah most vividly and accurately is describing how the Messiah of God would suffer and die and why. The Prophet beings with a rhetorical question which draws the attention of hearers, saying “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1) He continues to describe the Messiah’s pain, loneliness, being rejected and despised, humiliation, shame, death, and even the Father’s forsaking as the lamb of God.

“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:3-7)

God revealed the deep things of him to Prophet Daniel about seventy ‘sevens,’ the master time schedule for the world set even before the creation of the world. The prophet was told that the Anointed one would be cut off. “After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.” (Daniel 9:26a) This was fulfilled as prophesied in the city of Jerusalem in the first century that Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross. Prophet Zechariah tells a remarkable dialogue between the anointed one and the people of Israel, saying “If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’” (Zechariah 13:6)

The death of Christ is not the end of story, for Jesus further says that he would rise again on the third day. He must die for the sin of the world to redeem the lost humanity, as Apostle Paul puts it in the Epistle to the Romans. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:8-10) He did not die in vain but became the eternal propitiation for those who confess their sins and obey him. How can it be possible for the death of Christ to reconcile the race with God? It is through his resurrection. He not only died in our place but also was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

Therefore, he did not die for himself but for sinners like all of us. Man has been lost in darkness since the fall of Adam. All mankind is lost in Adam. Christ died and rose again on the third day to restore the lost race. Unless restored and reconciled with God in Christ Jesus there is no life, no truth, no way for man. No matter how man is well established by wealth and fame and even high morality in the world it is no avail to be reconciled with God without Christ Jesus crucified. As man is doomed and destined for death, so does the judgment of God follow. No one can deny the fact that man’s death rate is 100 percent flat with no exceptions. It is unbelievable and incredible that God is pleased to crush and bruise him and to put him to grief. Is there such a father found in the whole world? No father would do it such a thing to his own son. But God did to his Son Jesus Christ because it is the only way for mankind to have eternal life. The Father God was pleased to crush the Son, because by his wounds we are healed.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10 NKJV)

He was despised and rejected and died because it is impossible for man to deliver themselves from the powerful illusion and delusion of untruth. Man does not even know that they are seriously and critically lost and fallen. Nothing is seen without light. Man is in darkness and total confusion because they don’t know what they are and why they are and who they are. How can the blind lead other blind people? Impossible! Man is desperately in need of light which shines and reveals the real things out of darkness. Prophet Isaiah has prophesied that people walking in darkness would see a great light because a light has dawned in the land of sheer darkness.

“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (Isiah 9:1-2)

This is the hope for man and the nations. Jesus Christ died for us and rose again from the dead on the third day. “God so loved the world that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” says the Scripture (John 3:16). We live now in Christ Jesus is not by natural strength but by the power of God, the resurrection power of God. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) We live not according to what the world says any longer but according to what our Lord Jesus says. It is to follow him who though he was God became nothing, who was rejected and despised, afflicted and bruised, crushed and desolated, and who shed his blood and died on a cross, obeying the Father even to the point of death. We live in him eternal life now and forever. It is no longer by natural strength and experience even spiritual one, but by him, wholeheartedly depending on Christ, his power and life, his love and joy and peace, his mercy and grace. He is ever present in our midst in work, school, driving, home, and community. We live in him eternal life, so we reign with him in the heavenly places.

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Prayer: Thank Jesus Christ who died for us and in our place and rose again from the dead on the third day, so we no longer live eternal life by our natural strength, but by his power and life, his love and peace and joy, his mercy and grace, eating his body and drinking his blood every moment of our lives. We no longer listen to the voice of the world but to the voice of Lord only. In Christ’s name. Amen.

September 15, 2016

© 2015-2016 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

Way to the Kingdom of God (Luke 18:18-30)

A rich ruler approaches to the Lord Jesus and asks a serious question, the question of all humanity, what he must do to inherit eternal life. Often we don’t know what we’re really looking for. It is most likely the case that the rich young man doesn’t understand what eternal life means but desperately wants to know it more than anything else. Now, our Lord Jesus teaches this young man and gradually leads him to eternal life. Christ has come to the earth in order to give eternal life to those who believe in him whom God sent. He must die to give us life, so he did on a cross, being crucified and shedding blood to death. He was the Son of God and yet obeyed the Father to the point of death. As our Lord obeyed the Father unto death, so do we obey God more than anything else, home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God.

“A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good—except God alone.’” (Luke 18:18-19)

The first step to inherit the kingdom of heaven is to know who God is and who Jesus is. He calls Jesus “Good teacher.” Jesus asks back to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.” This is not what our Lord Jesus is denying that he is God. Many reads that way. But it is not true. What our Lord Jesus is saying is that when he calls him good and no one is good except God alone he is now talking to God face to face. What does it mean by “God is good?” It means God is unbending, unchanging, uncompromising by any degree in any circumstance from the beginning to the end. Apostle John says God is light which means he is straight, neither falling to the left nor to the right. Our Lord Jesus aptly expresses how thoroughly and completely are the words of God fulfilled and accomplished in the teachings on the Sermon on the Mount.

“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)

Our God is the Maker and Designer of all. That’s who he is and what he is. He is above all and over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6). Without him nothing was made that has been made in heaven and on earth and under the earth (John 1:3). All thrones, powers, authorities, rulers, and all things have been created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16). He is before all things and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). He is wiser and higher than anyone and anything in heaven and on earth, says Prophet Isiah.

“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

No one understands God. No one can fathom his understanding. No one can give any advice to him. He owes nothing to anyone because all belongs to him (Job 41:11, Psalm 50:9-11).

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” (Isaiah 40:28)

The next step to inherit the kingdom of heaven is to obey his commandments. God delivered his people just as he promised to Abraham out of the hands of King Pharaoh in Egypt and led to the holy mountain, Mount Horeb and gave them the Ten Commandments through his servant Moses. Jehovah God commanded them to keep all the decrees and the laws with all their heart and with all their mind and with all their heart and with all the strength. Then they shall live. Otherwise, they shall perish. So, Jesus asks this young man to keep all the laws of God.

“You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ ‘All these I have kept since I was a boy,’ he said.” (Luke 18:20-21)

Amazingly, the young ruler says that he has kept the commandments since he was a boy. I don’t think he is lying to Jesus. But his understanding of keeping the commandments of God is not what our Lord means. What the young man means of keeping the commandments is not literally committing adultery, murder, theft, giving false testimony, and honoring his father and mother. What he says is what he means. He has seriously been keeping those commandments since his childhood. He didn’t break the commandments of God and he couldn’t because that’s how he has been taught and disciplined. It may be true as well to many young men and women who have been grown up in Christian families. Like this young man, they might have been well protected and preserved in the devout and believing family and church. All kids around them might have behaved that they might not have been involved any wrongdoings. That’s what Apostle Paul experienced that he didn’t know what sin was until the law came home to him.

“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” (Romans 7:8-11)

Paul was grown up in a Jewish family and community, being taught the laws and decrees in the Torah. He was free and unconscious of sinning until he was caught up by the law. He knew the law since the childhood but never recognized that he was capable of sinning by breaking the law. But he couldn’t help but breaking the law all the more when he was fully awakened by the law which says he shall not covet. He was deceived and through the commandment he was put to death by sin. What Paul is saying is that he didn’t realize the fact that he was fully and completely capable of breaking the law. That’s the true and ultimate purpose of giving the law that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God (Romans 3:19). The law reveals the truth what we are and why we are.

“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” (Romans 3:20)

The law is holy and righteous and no one can live without keeping the law. The Scripture also says that no one can meet what the law requires. That’s the serious problem of humanity. There is no way for humanity to be saved from the bondage of sin and death by themselves. However, God has provided a way for the fallen race to keep the law in perfection. It is through Jesus Christ who became in the likeness of man and died on a cross where he shed his blood to death and paid the ransom for the redemption of the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ disarmed the authorities and powers of darkness on the cross and delivered the captives and made his possessions through the faith in him. So now, anyone who is in Christ can keep the law by means of the Spirit who indwells within forever.

The third step to inherit the kingdom of heaven is to trust in God with all the heart and with all the mind and all the strength. The Gospel of Mark tells that when the young man answers that he has kept the law since he was a boy, Jesus looks at him and loves him (Mark 10:21). I think Jesus loved him because he came to him like a child, asking honestly and bluntly and wanting to know the truth. But Jesus says that he has one thing lacking.

“When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.” (Luke 18:22-23)

Jesus says, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. To inherit the kingdom of heaven, he must trust in God only. One thing he still lacks to inherit the kingdom of heaven is that he must trust in God more than his great welath. That’s why the Scripture says he became very sad because he was very wealthy. This expression is quite unusual in the sense that great wealth is supposed to make him happy but it makes him very sad instead. Why does Jesus say like this? Is great wealth wrong? Not at all. How could God be against what he made? God saw what he made and said it was good.

Then, why does Jesus say to sell everything and give to the poor? It’s because great wealth keeps blocking him not to see real treasure in the kingdom of heaven. Ah, there is real treasure and not real one. What is not real treasure? It is whatever including great wealth blocks man not to have real treasure in heaven. Whatever from the earth is not real treasure, especially what man highly exalts and admires like pompous career and glittering things of the world. Whatever invokes man’s pride is not real treasure. Treasure in heaven is eternal life, invisible and unchanging quality of life which lasts forever. Jesus Christ is treasure in heaven because the Father gives eternal life to anyone who believes in him (John 6:40).

On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) Those who are drawn by the Father and respond to the heavenly invitation with gratitude and thanksgiving because they are unworthy and undeserved are given the kingdom of heaven by the generous Father. They respond to the divine call because they know that they have nowhere to go and nothing to depend on except God alone. There was a moment for Peter who couldn’t help but say, “Go away from, Lord, I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) There was a moment for Job who couldn’t help but say, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6) That’s the moment heaven opens and let the poor in spirit see and even take the kingdom of heaven. That’s how God invites people into the kingdom of heaven from the beginning and now till the door is closed (Romans 11:25).

“Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ Those who heard this asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus replied, ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’ Peter said to him, ‘We have left all we had to follow you!’ ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Luke 18:24-30)

Jesus looks at him and says, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” What Jesus is saying is what he means literally. Then some who hear this cry out, “Who then can be saved?” The Gospel of Matthew and Mark tell that the young man went away sad and Jesus spoke to his disciples. The disciples also have desires to be rich someday although they don’t know how, probably through the Master Jesus. That’s why they are greatly disturbed when Jesus says the impossibility of entering the kingdom of heaven for the rich.

Jesus says, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Somehow and someway, God is breaking through the impossibility of man, not by force but by long-suffering love through the Son Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for the sin of the world. Indeed, there are some rich people who genuinely believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him. Then, Peter said to Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you!” Then, Jesus said to his disciples including Peter, “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” This may sound very hard to understand. In fact, it is one of the most controversial questions in Christendom. Does Jesus mean it literally? Yes, he does. How can it be possible? Those lists are pretty difficult and tough ones for anyone to leave. Families are tightly knitted in blood and related so much with great bond.

It is impossible for man but possible with God. Who is the originator and giver of families? Is it not God? He is over all and above all and through all and in all, says the Scripture. Nothing was made that has been made without God. Families and their tight-knit relationships are originated by God. He designed that kind of tight and unbreakable relationship in the families. He knows how difficult and hard to leave. However, what our Lord Jesus is saying that there is nothing which can be placed on top of God, even the family relationships. Anything put on top of God or instead of him is called idolatry. For example, Abraham was tested to offer his beloved son, only son Isaac as a burnt offering to God. Humanly speaking, it is impossible for anyone to do such an unspeakable thing against his own son. Nevertheless, he obeyed and offered his son in the mount where Jehovah God instructed because he feared God more than withholding his son. So, the Lord God said to him:

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:16-18)

Our Lord Jesus did not withhold his life but offered his body to the Father, shedding blood to death. He received all power and authority in heaven and on earth and yet did not use them to judge the world but gave his life unto death in obedience to the Father. Without death, there is no forgiveness. Without blood, there is no righteousness. The Son Jesus Christ must die and that’s why he came to the earth in the likeness of man. He came to die in order to save the world. He was arrested, condemned to death by the Sanhedrin, handed over to the Gentiles and tried and sentenced to be crucified by Pontius Pilate. He was scourged by the cruel Roman soldiers and crucified on a cross in Calvary, shedding blood. He was smitten and bruised and wounded in our place for our transgressions and sins so that we might be healed and restored. Jesus says to his disciples these words of eternal truth which is aptly expounding what he is saying here. The cross is not the end of story but the resurrection of Jesus from the dead follows immediately. As Jesus promises, Abraham received back his son from the dead when he did not withhold his own son (Hebrews 11:19).

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

Prayer: Thank you Father for teaching us a way to the kingdom of heaven. Thank you for your graceful invitation to the kingdom of heaven through the Son Jesus Christ who is the way and door. May God help us to obey our Lord Jesus Christ, putting God on top of everything, even the family relationships. Thank you Father for giving us a way to obey all the commandments by means of the Spirit who lives within forever. In Christ’s name. Amen.

August 29, 2016

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