–Isaiah 58:11  (ESV)
————————————-
This morning we will finish our look at Psalm 139, and what a powerful portion it is.  George Wood offers two suggestions regarding this portion of the Psalm.  First, he points out that David asks God to look at the person who wronged him and that He should do something about them.  Second, we see his spiritual maturity coming forth.  

          19 — Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!  Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
          20 — For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain.
          21 — Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You?  And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
          22 — I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
          23 — Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties;
          24 — And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  (NKJV)

     David desires a world where there is no more evil and wickedness.  O what bliss if that could be true.  That will happen only after the Great White Throne Judgment and the New Jerusalem descends from heaven.  Until that time, wickedness will wax more and more–as the days of Noah.  One thing we see in the first part of this section is David’s zealous loyalty to God.  David could not bear to hear God’s name taken in vain and blasphemed.  His name was being abused and it greatly bothered David.  Yet, today, we see this happening even among the family of God.  Shame!  David said that he could not be accepting of those who despise God.
     One thing that we should gather from this section that there is no place of neutrality toward those who attack God; they are to be counted as his enemies.  “To oppose God was to oppose David” (Lawson) and so it should be with us.  John tells us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15, NKJV)  James exhorts us, “Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friends of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4, NKJV)  Perhaps it would be good for us to read verse 19 from the NLT, “O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!  Get out of my life, you murderers!”
     Yet, before we go further, we need to stop and ask God to search and judge ourselves.  Explore my heart, he is saying, he wanted God to know his heart so God could make it known to him.” (Lawson)  Have you ever thought why we need mirrors?  It is to check ourselves, to see if there is a stray hair or a blemish that we don’t know about.  Sometimes we need to take a closer look in the mirror, that is, we need to take a closer look in God’s Word and then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what is wrong or what may be false in our lives.  God, though infinite, is also very personal.  Psalm 139 is a good psalm to read to take inventory of our lives.  Steven Lawson states, “As we ponder the immensity of His greatness, yet intimately involved in a personal relationship with us, our hearts should be awestruck, even dumbfounded, that He should be so mindful of and involved with us.”
     In closing I would add the prayer given by George Wood:  “Lord Jesus, please dig into me.  As You search, I ask You to carry away the thoughts, habits, and actions that offend You; and to repair the wounds that only You can heal.  Thank You that although You know everything about me, You still accept and love me.”

               “Lord, we thy presence seek;
               May ours this blessing be;
               Give us a pure and lowly heart,
               A temple meet for thee.”
                    –John Keble

                    –J. Lee Butts  (Ambushed)

       “Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed–…  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

                    –1 Corinthians 15:51, 53  (NKJV)
———————————-
     I want to spend one more day looking at the life of Jesus, or at least speculating upon it, before He entered His ministry.  Stuck back in the writings of Paul there is a phrase that is not often mentioned.  “After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:7, NKJV)  For some reason, Jesus after His resurrection made it a point to see His half-brother James.
     Most likely James was at least four years younger than Jesus, possibly more.  He, nor the other brothers:  Judas, Joseph, and Simon or His sisters of which He had at least two are mentioned until He begins His ministry.  Paul mentions James one other time, “But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.” (Galatians 1:19, NKJV)  Perhaps the question should be, where was Joseph, the father?  Most scholars believed he died sometime after Jesus’ twelfth birthday as he is never mentioned again after that memorable trip to Jerusalem.
     Were the siblings jealous of Jesus?  Did they hear the stories told by Mary of the miraculous birth or did they listen to the scandalous voices of the people regarding Mary and Joseph?  Surely they knew of the escape and short exile in Egypt, but in the wisdom of God we are not told anything of their relationship as children.  If Joseph did indeed die when Jesus was in His adolescent years, then Jesus as the oldest would be expected to care for the family.  Perhaps the income was meager and the siblings were disgruntled over that.  There was one point during Jesus’ ministry where the Jews sought to kill Him and His brothers told Him to leave or to show Himself to the world. (John 7:1-10)  They seemed to chide Him and there was another time where they came with Mary to see Him as recorded in Matthew 12. Whatever their relationship was in childhood or during Jesus’ ministry, Jesus especially sought out James after His resurrection.
     Life was hard, Jesus for a time worked as a carpenter or stonemason, whichever you prefer until it was time for His mission.  I have always wondered when He realized that He was indeed, God’s Son.  Surely it was early.  Joseph would have told Him the stories and while sitting with His mother as a babe, she would have told Him of His birth and sang the songs of the Jews.  When He began to read I can imagine Him delving hungrily into the Scriptures.  There was a time, I believe when the Holy Spirit whispered into His soul the truth of the Word of God.  By the time He was twelve, He had somewhat of an understanding.
     The life of the Jewish people were torn between the political/religious groups of the time.  There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Essenes, and the Zealots and on top of that was the presence of Rome.  It was a time of turmoil for there was a major uprising by the Zealots led by a certain Judas (no connection to Jesus) that had been crushed by the Roman general Quinctilius in which he crucified two thousand.  Later there was another uprising, so we can see that the people were looking for their Messiah.
     Recently I heard someone say that Jesus and John probably played together as children.  Probably not.  I would say that on the Passover there would be a good chance they would have met.  Hmm, did John jump when he saw Jesus as he did in the womb?  However, they both understood that they had a mission that came down from heaven; it was a mission that would lead to the death of them both for different reasons and in different manners.  
     Now that we have speculated for some time we need to understand that there is a purpose that we do not know of the early life of Jesus.  We are to focus on His mission, His purpose, and His salvation for the redemption of mankind.  We are to see that He was God’s only begotten Son, and that He was born of the virgin Mary–the Incarnation.  So in this upcoming Easter don’t look for the child or his life as a boy, but look to the Savior of the world.  Offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice.

       “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
                    –Romans 6:11 (NKJV)
——————————–
     Over the past few years in my studies, I have come to notice the value of small words and phrases.  For instance, look at all the times “in Christ” is mentioned and what it means.  There is one term that comes immediately to my mind, that term is “all.”  Just meditate a bit on this phrase from Psalm 33:4, “…all His work is done in faithfulness” (NASB)  We normally would focus on the “faithfulness,” and rightly so, but notice the “all.”  God is always faithful, and “all” His work, His keeping His promises, His caring for His children, His blessings–all comes from His faithfulness.
     I want to point your attention to the Book of Philippians, “But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.” (1:12, NKJV)  This term, “furtherance,” is actually a military term.  It indicates the pioneer or first advance, and refers to the army engineers who go before the troops to open the way into new territory.  They are to cut the path, to clear barriers that would hinder progress.  Paul’s imprisonment opened up the way into new territory for the Gospel; barriers are being cut away.
     Here, Paul is in prison and he declares the Gospel is being furthered.  See, he was practicing what he wrote in 2 Timothy 2:9, “for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains, but the word of God is not chained.” (NKJV)  What we see is that Paul actually found a new avenue of ministry.  He says that his “chains are in Christ.”  Ironically, it appeared Paul was the captive, but he, in Christ, turned it around for it was the guards who were chained to him who were his captives.  Imagine spending six hours a day chained to a fanatic of Jesus.  I wonder how many of the guards went away humming the tune that Paul would be singing throughout the day?  As David Guzik writes, “He didn’t need everything to be easy and set in order to be fruitful.”  Can you not hear Paul, sitting with his guard, tapping his foot, singing, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart…”?
     Nothing comes our way that God is not aware of and in which the hand of God is not involved.  It is the way of God to work by contraries, to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good (Burroughs).  There are many examples in the Bible of this concept.  Joseph and Samson come to mind, but also there are these:  He brings life out of death, He brings joy out of sorrow, and makes use of sin to work grace.  Jeremiah Burroughs said, “It is not to overcome the evil, but to make the evil work toward the good.”  
     As we move into the Easter season, think of the cross and the death of Jesus.  Satan thought he had won.  Evil looked to be the victor and I imagine the emissaries of evil were doing a victory dance.  Then the earth shook, the stone moved…and they began to tremble.  The Savior rose, holding the keys to hell, death, and the grave.  Jesus did not try to do away with evil, He used evil to bring forth victory over the grave; to bring salvation to anyone who would accept His sacrifice.  Because of the use of evil, we now can be “in Christ” and walk “in Him” throughout the journey of life.