“The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the One you should fear. He is the One who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah He will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem He will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.” (Isaiah 8:11-15 NLT)
The above words from the Prophet Isaiah would have been highly offensive to his fellow Jews, as he exposed their shallowness and lack of understanding of the ways of the God they supposedly loved and served. Isaiah was warning them of impending destruction because of their disobedience and disregard for the Lord’s instructions.
Many today detest the Old Testament for its violence, destruction, and seeming lack of consideration for the sanctity of life, but the battles the Lord described in the Old Testament are “pictures” of spiritual truths that became evidenced in and through the ministry of Jesus. The “battles” we face with temptation and Satanic attack are just as real and when you factor in the billions of people in the world who are falling victim to Satan’s attacks, the wars in the Old Testament pale in comparison.
Many want to dismiss the authority of Scripture and treat it, at best, as an historical account, but Robertson McQuilkin describes it this way: “We call this book—and only this book—the Word of God. That is why it has supreme authority for our lives.” To dismiss the Bible is to dismiss life as it was always meant to be lived, not only here, on this planet, but in heaven when this planet is no more.
It seems in the days in which we now live too many believers in Jesus tread very lightly around the issue with which the world wrestles. The real question behind many questions today is: “Who’s in charge?” “Why isn’t someone doing something about __________?” David Platt had it right when he said: “The most offensive claim in Christianity is that God is the Creator, Owner, and Judge of every person on the planet.”
Why is that so offensive? Largely because people assume if God is in charge, why did He allow the the world to become such a mess? When in reality, God is the only one trying to fix things. SIN is the reason the world is in such a mess, which was man’s choice, and Jesus is the only answer God has given the world to make things right again. But we’re so in love with our sin, we can’t allow the Lord to change us individually, thus, the issues we have collectively.
Here’s the truth. To the extent we yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, the mess in our lives will find a cure. The offensiveness of the Gospel of hope and help in Jesus is that people don’t really want an answer to their sin, they want a pass to continue to wallow in it. That’s why hell is so offensive to so many, they don’t want to face the consequences of their own disregard of the truths of Scripture.
People love the thought of heaven and want to believe everyone will go there, but sin separates us from God here on earth and will continue to separate us from Him for all eternity unless and until we allow the holiness of God’s only perfect Son to take our place on the Cross and we recognize as we see Him there – that was FOR ME! Jesus died on that Cross FOR ME!
When the offensiveness of our sin grows strong enough to drive us to the foot of that old rugged Cross, that will be the day our sins will be forgiven and we’ll finally celebrate the privilege of becoming a child of God who can look forward to one day being in the heaven Jesus died to allow us to go. If you don’t know Him, please tap on anewstory.com and find out how you can have your sins forgiven and begin a new life in the Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 