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(Posted 06-11-2010)

Payday is Coming and You Can Bank on It

Isaiah 53:7-9, He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked -- but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. NKJV

Very few things anger Christians more than injustice. My mom was a powerful woman of God, but let one of her children or her husband get mistreated and Elijah himself couldn’t call down fire that fast. There’s something about injustice or being falsely accused that doesn’t set well with believers. Could it be that we were humans before we became believers?

Now let’s take a step back for a moment from our righteous indignation and take a look at God’s situation. Out of all the injustice in the world, there has never been a case so trumped up as the one that was built against God’s Son, Jesus. If you will read the gospels’ accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion, you’ll find that there were no true witnesses that could be found to condemn Him of any wrong. Why? He lived a life that was above reproach. Simply put, the Bible tells us that they paid people to lie against Jesus. They were trying to incite Pilate and Herod against Jesus, but it wouldn’t work.

Instead of allowing Jesus to be let go because He was found innocent, they used these made up accusations to convince the mob crowd that was formed to press the leaders into acting on their wishes. Jesus was judged several times between the time that He was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane until the decree was handed down to crucify Him. Yet there was no credible evidence in which to build a proper case sufficient enough to kill Him. In spite of these gaps in their argument, it was decided to hang Him as a common thief on a Roman cross. You must remember that as they lined up to beat His face and pluck His beard to the point that He was unrecognizable as a man, He was still innocent. They removed His priestly garment that was very expensive and cast lots for it and tore off His undergarments until He was completely exposed to the crowd… yet He was completely innocent.

After they stripped Him of His clothing, they began to beat Him without mercy with a whip that was made of bone fragments and other sharp objects that cut deeply into His body causing His flesh to hang on Him like ribbons. All this harsh treatment… but they still had no sufficient evidence that warranted such cruel behavior against Him. Yet the prophet Isaiah tells us that He did not open up His mouth. When He was reviled, He didn’t revile back. When they beat Him to the point that He had no strength left in Him to carry His own cross, He still looked at them with love.

As they began to pound the nails into His hands and feet, He remained silent as a lamb carried to the slaughter. If this were not enough indescribable torture and public humiliation, after they hung Him in the air, people began to mock and scorn Him. They spewed out words of hatred and maliciousness… just as He had foretold not long before this awful day arrived. All this violence was perpetrated upon a man that was completely innocent of the false charges. How do you explain the hearts of those barbarians that tore Jesus apart like a lion would its prey while knowing He had done nothing worthy of death? Where did they get the rage that would fuel such a travesty of justice? Still He opened not His mouth.

I’m sure, like me, you see the injustice that was done against Jesus, but God stayed His hand of wrath. Jesus could have called down 12 legions of angels to destroy everyone around that day and been just in doing so, but He chose to die the death of a thief. Why do you suppose neither Jesus nor the Father opened their mouths to voice a complaint? They had every right to complain against such horrific behavior, but they chose to remain silent. The only answer I can arrive at is this… it was the Father’s will to bruise His Son for our sins. It was the decision of Jesus in the garden that allowed those men to take Him and treat Him so violently. Since this was the Father’s plan, does that make what they did on the basis of lies, correct? Absolutely not! They hated Jesus without one cause.

You will never find another case of injustice that will come close to what Jesus suffered in all of human history. He is the only man that lived a sinless life. All of us have gone astray according to Isaiah. Paul wrote in Romans 3 that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This alone is the reason you will never find a greater case of injustice as His. Even in this story, God is teaching us something about the attributes of His heart that otherwise we wouldn’t have known. He has taught us, by example that we are to trust God’s will… even when we are being lied against and persecuted and the list will go on and on.

James 5:7-12, Now as for you, dear brothers who are waiting for the Lord's return, be patient, like a farmer who waits until the autumn for his precious harvest to ripen. Yes, be patient. And take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Don't grumble about each other, brothers. Are you yourselves above criticism? For see! The great Judge is coming. He is almost here. [Let him do whatever criticizing must be done.] For examples of patience in suffering, look at the Lord's prophets. We know how happy they are now because they stayed true to him then, even though they suffered greatly for it. Job is an example of a man who continued to trust the Lord in sorrow; from his experiences we can see how the Lord's plan finally ended in good, for he is full of tenderness and mercy. But most of all, dear brothers, do not swear either by heaven or earth or anything else; just say a simple yes or no so that you will not sin and be condemned for it. TLB

Why doesn’t the Lord want us to grumble and complain about wrong behavior? Could it be that it shows Him that we really don’t trust Him, and that we have to take matters into our own hands when it comes to injustice? Have you read the description that Paul uses when talking about Christians in Romans 8? For His sake we are killed the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors. How do you suppose Paul could write that we are sheep that are killed all the daylong and in the same breath declare that we are more than conquerors? The key to this verse is found in three words, “For His sake.”

If there’s anything that challenges a believer’s faith more than this principle, I don’t know what that would be. We are sometimes asked by God or required to suffer wrongfully in order to fulfill His will in a given situation. How could a holy and just God ask someone to lay down their right to defend themselves against hostile people? Have you forgotten what Jesus did on the cross for you? It should have been us and not Him, but God, who is rich in mercy allowed us to go free and placed ALL of our guilt and shame on Jesus. Now lest you begin to feel condemnation about God requiring His children to suffer in order to fulfill His will in or through our lives, let’s look back at the verses in James. God is waiting on His judgment until the time of the harvest. At that time, He will repay every person for either the good that they did in His name or those who did evil against those who believed in His name. To this we must conclude; He is God and we must trust Him with this gift He has given to us called life. We must choose to use this life to bring Him glory… even at our expense. How can we do this with a clear conscience? There is a term that is used in the military when inflicting someone with torture. When our military power is at war, they don’t have the authority to interrogate an enemy combatant with torture to the point of “shocking the conscience.” So how can we undergo horrific situations and not open our mouths in protest with a clear conscience? If God loved us so much as sinners that He was willing to allow Jesus to be beaten beyond what any human could possibly live through in order that our sin debt could be paid, then know that He will deliver you… should the enemy decide to shock your conscience or take it past what you are able to bear.

It’s difficult at best to wrap our minds around the rationale that suffering wrongfully can be a good thing. That’s not what the Lord is telling us. He is telling us that if we are walking in our calling and love Him, then He will use what was meant for evil and work it out for the good. It’s not always about us …even though it might be us who are doing the suffering. It wasn’t about Jesus, but he was the One on the cross; it was about us. What was the end result of Jesus’ suffering? All who believed in Him as the Son of God have been ransomed by His blood and are forgiven. Well, that’s good for us, but what about the One who paid the price? God has highly exalted Him and has given Him a name that is above every name. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of the Father. He’s not done yet; let’s go a little deeper.

Philippians 2:12-18, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. NKJV

Paul is about to give his life as a drink offering according to the will of God. As he is preparing for that moment, he writes and exhorts all Christians to obey without murmuring or complaining. If we will obey and hold our peace, instead of fighting for our rights, the world will see us as lights in a dark place, and we will be blameless before God in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. We see this principle of suffering for the sake of the kingdom throughout scripture. The Old Testament prophets were mentioned in James 5, along with Job.

Hebrews 11 tells us that without faith, we can’t please God. We must believe that He exists and He rewards those who diligently seek Him. We must believe that He only wants good in our lives, even when He asks us to remain quiet during a fiery trial. Remember, its evil people and Satan who are causing the suffering and not God. In Hebrews, the Lord tells us that He will repay our adversaries. We are to be still and wait for the salvation of the Lord and for the reward that He will give to those who remain faithful to their calling.

For God So Loved,
Pastor Asa