Tag Archives: Despised

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 17

Leave a reply

17. From Accountants to Singers

Accountant1

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3e)

Despised pretty much means despised. But the word can also mean worthless. Esteemed is an accounting word, and literally means we calculated Christ’s worth and zeroed Him out. We dropped Him into a spreadsheet and determined He was of no value. This would be consistent with being despised. Fortunately this is our miscalculation. God counted Him worthy, indeed of more worth than all of us sinners in all of creation, and even more worth than all of creation itself. And it God’s inestimable value which resulted in our redemption. We are indeed broken creatures if we cannot see the value of The One Whom the LORD God Himself declared supremely and incomparably worthy.

And He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:15-20)

But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved  righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.” And, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” (Hebrews 1:8-12)

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Hopefully you see from these verses there is no one more worthy than the Son—no one more exalted. You even see this in Heaven, where there apparently was no one to open the book with seven seals; until the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God—Jesus, came forward.

Choir4

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” (Rev 5:9-13).

This is a marvelous chorus. Notice the choir singing is in two-parts—those who have watched this great story of redemption unfold before them, and those who are actually the ones redeemed by Christ. Now the point of this song—the theme of this song—is Jesus; but the reason it was written was because you. You were purchased and are now part of His kingdom. At some point you’ll be singing this chorus. Why not start now?

What God Gave Up for Lent – Day 13

Leave a reply

13. Despised & Forsaken   

rejected2

He was despised and forsaken of men. (Isaiah 53:3)

Unfortunately, for most of us it was not a matter of attraction. It was about despising and forsaking. The One Who should have been loved and worshipped, was despised and forsaken.

As is often the case with Hebrew words, this word for despised cuts both ways. Despised is an act on our part: but for those of us doing the despising, we believe the object of our disdain is truly despicable. So we are not despising someone who is undeserving; rather disdain declares He is deserving of our contempt. We consider Him to be vile and worthless. Our nature is so broken, so bent, that we have revised reality to fit our own depraved perspective. If you are unable to do anything that is good (as we are), then surely no one else is capable of such. And, if you are unable to perceive good (also as we are), then neither is anyone else. The Apostle Paul speaks to this in the Romans:

As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips”; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)

Forsaken only appears three times in the Old Testament, and is translated as refused, transient, and rejected. The only option we have, once we have declared Him despised, contemptible and despicable, is to reject Him. Well… at least we are consistent.

The word for man could have just as easily been translated as mankind. Some of its other translations are every, any, and whosoever. Rather inclusive. This shows that given the chance, according to our nature, we would all despise and reject Him. And the only reason we do not is because God has changed us. And all this leads to my final question for this phrase:

Why? Why was He (and is He) despised and rejected?

First it is in our nature. That is how we are made:

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. ( 1 Corinthians 2:14)

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ( Romans 8:5-7)

Next, we have despised and rejected Him because our religion could not accommodate Him:

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” ( Matthew 9:10-13)

 “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him… “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet. ( Matt 21:23-32; 42-45)

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men…Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” ( Matthew 23:1-7;12-14;23-28)

And He continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:9)

I apologize for the length, but it’s obvious why Christ condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their religion—a religion of rules (of their own making by the way) and a religion of appearance. There was no true faith here, otherwise they would have recognized the Messiah. This was a religion filled with emotion, devoid of compassion. This was a religion of works (and not necessarily good works). This religion could not accept the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And when that happens, the consequences are everlasting. Any of this sound familiar?

So I’m thinking there has to be more reasons for despising and rejecting Christ. What about pride? Well that’s pretty much wrapped up in the human nature. And whether we squeeze the Life out of the Faith so it’s merely tradition or we re-write it to suit our needs, much of the criticism leveled at the Pharisees would apply to just about any religion that is not based upon the True Faith. Have rules become more important than relationship? How much influence does tradition or revision have on your faith?