One of the most frustrating emotions we experience is to be misunderstood. We are human and we make mistakes, we fail, and that we should quickly admit, but it is so painful when we intended good, but others judge our motivation falsely. Everyone of us has been accused of being something we are not, or doing something we didn’t do. Jesus Christ never sinned, but He was rejected by his own people. He was “despised and rejected,” when He should have been recognized and adored. Jesus is God. God is one and God is three persons, you don’t fully comprehend that and neither do I, and neither does any other limited human being. He is beyond our understanding or ability to explain. It is essential to the Christian to accept by faith the truth taught by Jesus in this passage, don’t misunderstand Him. To reject Jesus, is to reject the Father. To believe Jesus, is to be placed in a right relationship with God, and to gain access to Him for all eternity.
44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
He says in another place that "I and the father are one and if you have seen me you’ve seen the father." (John 17:10, John 14:1). There is no separation of the two. Everything learned from the Old Testament is to make us able to recognize Jesus as God in the New Testament. John writes of Jesus being glorified by the Father. Three times the Father verbally announces that this is His Son in whom He is well pleased. The word “cried” in this verse implies angst and persistence. Since Jesus was on a mission to restore us to the Father, His deepest desire is that we understand who is He is and why He came.
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
I remember cleaning my house one evening to prepare for guests that would arrive for breakfast the next morning. I swept, mopped, and washed sheets. I dusted, polished, and organized. I went to bed thinking I’d done an excellent job and that all things were ready for my guests. In the morning, I came downstairs just moments before the doorbell rang, sunlight beamed through the kitchen windows onto my oven. My heart sank, those beautiful beams of light showed dust and grease and crumbs hidden from me the evening before. It looked disgusting and in the morning light, there was nowhere to hide. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus reveals the human heart completely. His life, His words, and His obedience leave no room for self justification. He didn’t come to Earth this time to judge the sins of mankind, but to offer himself as a sacrifice to save all of us. But those who reject the greatest gift ever given will ultimately be judged by the perfect standard of righteousness, Jesus Christ himself. However, if we allow Him to show us who we are, He doesn’t judge, He saves and forgives. He knows what you are really like, and He loves you anyway. Jesus paid it all, and all to Him I owe.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
The same word that created all that exists, was spoken by Christ as He walked on this Earth. It is impossible for His word to change or to not be fulfilled. You can put complete confidence in every word that He spoke. He is the fulfillment of all the communication God has ever had with mankind.
In like manner, as we grow in our relationship with Christ our opinions, our perspectives, and the way we conduct our lives, should line up more and more with the word of God and the life of Christ. People should be able to recognize Christ in you, the way they could have recognized the Father in the Son. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are never in disagreement, they are unified and reliable. When they saw Jesus, they saw the Father. When they see me, I pray they see a reflection of the Son.
Colossians 2:8-9
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Perspective
It can be hard to know how to answer the lies of our current age. Standing for Christ is to live counter culturally, Jesus warned that the world will hate you, because it hated Him first. The philosophy of this world is that mankind can save itself, that modern technology and creativity will solve the problems of the world. We are taught that the planet will be destroyed unless we step in with our human ingenuity and lower Earth’s temperature and hold back its oceans. Vain deceit means “empty lies.” We are fed a continuous diet of lies about how to live “our best lives” from Hollywood celebrities and academics who don’t espouse the eternal truths of God. But in Christ is everything we need now and for eternity, He holds the fullness of the trinity, all of the truth that exists, and has the power to make us the sons and daughters of God. “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” You can trust Christ unconditionally.
Younger Christian
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