Thursday, July 23, 2009

This was from an email I was sent from a friend...good word..

I wanted to share a valuable insight I got into the heart of the Lord Jesus:
25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
26Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
27All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:25-28 KJV
I listened to this passage read on CD recently and was extremely impressed. "no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."(NKJV) This is very powerful. Jesus has authority and power to choose to whom He reveals the Father! This implies to me that Jesus is no mere man. He is God's Son with authority to introduce us to His Father. He is the way to the Father. He is the bridge to God!
Secondly, I'm impressed with the knowledge that since Jesus can reveal His Father to whom He wishes, what kind of heart does He have? To whom does He will to reveal the Father? Could He be obtuse or hard to reach, hard to please so that He only reveals the Father to people of status or worldly fame or talent? The answer is in the passage.
Just following verse 27 is verse 28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (NKJV) WOW! What a heart of compassion! Jesus desires for men to come to Him. He is open and receptive to weary and burdened souls. And although there may be much more to say in terms of systematic theology regarding to whom Jesus reveals the Father*, Jesus' receptiveness and openness to receive burdened and weary souls is great joy to my heart! Whoever believes in Him has eternal life! (John 3:16) Jesus isn't stale, impassionate, harsh, difficult, impersonal, disinterested, unsympathetic, but rather is compassionate, wanting to give rest to weary, burdened souls! He is gentle and humble (meek and lowly) in heart! Praise the Lord that we have an advocate like Him! He invites people to come to Him! Oh to rest in Jesus, to know the lightness of His burden, to learn of Him, why would we not want to come to Him. Indeed, as John wrote in one of his letters, we love, because He loved us. What Love! What pity! What compassion! And He backed it up with His actions, healing people, feeding the hungry multitudes, casting out demons.
*I believe that Jesus doesn't shut the door to our relationship with God by His initial will but only shuts the door to those whose hearts are not pure and undivided before Him. Not that any of us always and consistently show a pure, undivided heart.# Jesus showed harshness to the hypocritical Pharasees, and in another place couldn't do many miracles there because of unbelief. Jesus told the woman at the well (John 4:23-24) that "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Jesus knows immediately the heart of man and man's response to Him, whether it be fake or sincere, adversarial or receptive, truly seeking to please God or rebellious.
May we learn to love like Jesus loved, to have compassion like He has compassion. And may we rejoice in His openness to us and His drawing us to Himself. Praise the LORD!
# I do NOT wish to imply that we can earn God's favor or salvation by our efforts at being pure and undivided before Him. Certainly salvation is by grace through faith and not of ourselves, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-10). God's grace and Christ's redemptive work saves us. What I mean is that as I have been listening to the book of Matthew, Jesus showed compassion to those who were weary and burdened, yet could be forthright to those who harbored hypocrisy. I think the key to understanding man's response to Jesus and Jesus' response to individuals is relationship.
Tim Trawick

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