Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Monday, February 11, 2008 3:55:40 PM
Nothing is new under the sun. Two millennium ago the apostate church rejected their long awaited Messiah. They said he broke the Sabbath when he disregarded their man-made traditions, therefore he could not be Christ.
We are of the seed of Abraham they said. We know that Messiah will come and restore unto us the kingdom of His father David. Jesus answered them that God could raise up stones to be children of Abraham after the flesh. “Before Abraham was I AM” [John 8:58]. God in the flesh had come to destroy the works of Satan and to proclaim liberty to the captives and to establish a kingdom of which David’s was only a shadow [I John 3:8; Luke 4:18].
Jesus is not hated because of sayings like the Golden Rule. He is hated because of forgotten words like these that reveal the truth of our condition. “Though someone rise from the dead you will not believe…because you are of your father the devil.” [Luke 16:31; John 8:44]
We are all born bond slaves to the evil one to do his will. Whether we are atheists or idolaters it makes no difference. The whole world is in darkness and believes one lie or another. He is content with your unbelief for you belong to him as long as you reject the living God and His Messiah.
Christ accomplished eternal redemption when He said, “It is finished”. The great hope of the nations is that God accepted His work of redemption and demonstrated His acceptance to all men by raising Him from the dead. He has all authority to release from captivity all those who believe in Him. There is no other escape because there is no other power whereby men can be saved. [Acts 4:12]