To Encourage You

John 19:3 “They came up to him, saying, ’Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands.”

Just one small excerpt from the crucifixion story gives us a sample of how Jesus’ enemies mocked Him, violently treated Him, and diminished Him as best they could.  So, if you had been there, would you have done the same?  I doubt anyone, except for the most depraved, would think they would have joined in with this wickedness.  We may want to think again, however, if we consider one simple fact.  In John 1, Jesus is called “The Word.”  In this name, we learn that Jesus is one with His Word.  As we view the Word of Jesus, i.e., the Word of God, so we view Him. As we treat the Word of God, we treat Him. 

But how do people do this?  Some people love the Word of God. So, they love Christ. They listen to the Word of God, so they are listening to Him. They obey the Word of God, so they obey Him.  They treasure the Word of God, and so they treasure Him.  But there are others who have no respect for the Word of God, and thus they have no respect for Him. They never read the Word of God, so they never listen to Him. They do violence to the Word of God, changing what it says or distorting it, and so they do violence to Him. They pay no attention to the Word of God, thereby diminishing its importance, and so they in effect, diminish Him. They disobey the Word of God and so they disobey Him.  They do exactly the same thing to Jesus spiritually in their treatment of His Word as His enemies did to Him physically in the first century when they mocked Him and eventually murdered Him to finally shut Him up. 

However, what they didn’t realize is that He would rise again.  They were infinitely less than He was, and their power and efforts to diminish Him in the end did nothing more than exalt Him.  And so, with the Word of God.  No matter how one treats the Word, it’s Truth will not be silenced.  Every Word will be proven true and every word will be accomplished.  It is infinitely more powerful than those who would neglect, diminish, reject, and attempt to silence it.  Its justice grinds on, slowly, surely, and inevitably, no matter what man may do. 

In Matthew 21:44 Jesus is likened to a stone “And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” So, with His Word.  If we judge it, if we violate it, if we reject it, we will find in the end that it will likewise bring judgment on us.  May we have the wisdom to not reject the One and His Word that is meant to give us life, for all who do so will find only that they have brought upon themselves the second death.