(Audio)
From this man’s descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.
Jesus is the fulfillment of a plan and a promise. The place and the people to whom he comes are not random or arbitrary. This means that accepting Jesus means accepting the plan of the one who sent him. Even more than David, Jesus is a man after the Father's heart who carries out his every wish. When we come to Jesus we must also agree with God's diagnosis of the human condition, his condemnation of sin, and his desire to bring salvation. We must abandon our ideas about deserving and entitlement and instead be grateful to be finally numbered among those whom God has freely chosen.
I am not speaking of all of you.
I know those whom I have chosen.
Jesus knew how hard it would be for us to accept him as the great I AM. People imagined a conquering king. What they got was one who washed the feet of his disciples and conquered only through his love. The idea of a chosen people made sense to that people if their exclusivity was preserved. When salvation was proclaimed to the Gentiles too, and the plan was no longer on their terms, they struggled. And how could that plan make sense to the Gentiles, who were so sure that they could not need anything from the Jews? Only a mutual dependence on one another for mercy could make sense of it. To help us accept him and his plan Jesus revealed in advance how it would turn out, just as prophets, culminating in John the Baptist first announced his own coming.
‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’“
Jesus wants to assure us that he is trustworthy. If we believe this we will be able to face circumstances in which his victory is anything but apparent and not lose hope. If we trust him we can in fact walk in victory no matter the circumstance.
From now on I am telling you before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.
The true victory is something greater and not less than the destruction of the seven nations in the land of Canaan. The inheritance we receive without earning it is something greater than that land. The King who reigns over us reigns with more power and perfection than anyone else. Yet his Kingdom does not operate according to the principles of this world. Until he comes again we can only enter into it by faith, only live in it by love and service.
Let us accept not only Jesus, but the one who sent him, and his plan to rule the world through love and mercy. May he make us fit subjects of this King and Kingdom.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,
and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
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