THE MAJESTY OF THE LORD (PART 4, FINAL PART)
"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" - Matthew 11:2-3, KJV.
This is the final part in the series titled "The Majesty of the Lord". In these studies, we have noted some basic principles that are the consequence of the Majesty of the Lord. They are:
- that God holds sway over the affairs of men and He does so with such Majesty and Sovereignty that leaves men marveling.
- that God is never wrong in His judgment and since He's never wrong, He doesn't need to apologize to anyone over anything; notwithstanding that in man's imagination, things may seem as though God was wrong.
- that since God is Master of circumstances as they affect man, it's good that we do not lose courage when events spring up that threaten us, but to trust Him.
- If God led you into any situation in life, be rest assured that He will be with you to surmount every challenge that attends to it.
We saw these principles at play, first in Jn 11:21 when Martha accused the Lord of delay saying "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died". Again, in Mk 4:38, Jesus was asleep in the midst of a life threatening storm and His disciples retorted saying: "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" ; and finally, in Exo 14 we saw Israel faced with the conundrum of what to do when they stood on the shore of the Red Sea. The Egyptians were behind them, and the Red Sea was before them; on the two sides of them were mountains.
In all of these circumstances and from human perspective, it was as though the Lord had mistaken, was at fault or was wrong and that the people were right. But in line with His Majesty, He arose triumphant over the situations, bringing to fulfillment the Scripture that "... let God be true, but every man a liar; ... That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."(Romans 3:4).
Faced with adversities, man has the tendency to bring the Lord into judgment, accusing Him of error, neglect or forgetfulness. Indeed, blessed are those that are not offended in Him (Matt 11:6). John the Baptist was offended in Jesus. He had been thrown into prison and to him, Jesus seemed not to care about him. So John the Baptist " ... sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" - Matthew 11:2-3, KJV.
Apparently, and from a human perspective, it seemed right that John had been neglected. The Lord Jesus continued powerfully with His ministry as though all was well. John had pointed Him out as the Messiah, yet Jesus kept mum on the plight of John. Did the Lord send an apology to John the Baptist? Not at all! Was the Lord wrong in doing nothing about the plight of John? No. Rather, He referred John to the Word by doing signs that the Scriptures have attributed to the Messiah (Matt 11:4-5). By so doing, He let John to know that He was indeed the Messiah and further, that John was not only in God's perfect will, but also that his ministry had come to a close; and that he was blessed if he accepted it as such (Matt 11:6)
The Lord is ever true and never wrong! The absence of an apology on His part is an expression of His Glory, Majesty and Sovereignty over the affairs of life. Being His children, we will do well to trust Him and not to faint or get offended with what we go through as we do His bidding! Shalom!
PRAYER:
Dearest Heavenly Father, You are ever true and never wrong. I receive grace never to give up on You, in Jesus name.