.png)
I’m learning right now that beliefs, even incorrect ones, which are tightly held or widely embraced are difficult to change.
Take the idea of religion. There are so many churches on the street corners of our towns. There are so many people who believe by being good, by doing good, they will reach a platitude of piety that causes God to swing the gates of heaven wide on their behalf.
E.M. Bounds said of the church that is devoid of the power of God, “Hell has enlarged herself and filled her dire caves in the presence of the dead service of a prayerless church.” In essence, many churches open their doors to people but not to the power of God. They are lifeless and misled.
The point I’m making is that we can be wholly religious and equally dead. We can miss the truth altogether because we are unwilling to let go of lies we believe.
We can be wholly religious and equally dead.
In the face of all the religious activity we see around us, let us consider the words of Jesus is John 14:6. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6
This sounds pretty straightforward. No ambiguity here. What do you do with this statement in the light of your religious activity? Have you embraced the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior?
Right now I am reading in John 19 about Jesus crucifixion and I was struck with an irony that actually caused me to feel the burden physically. My heart was so grieved by the blind religion in this story that I felt my heart rate quicken and frustration grip me.
Here it is.
In John chapters 18 and 19 we see the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus. In chapter 18, Jesus is being questioned by Pilate, the Roman Governor. The religious Jews (Sadducees and Pharisees) congregate outside Pilate’s gate because his courts are considered unclean to them and they would not enter and defile themselves. Sounds pretty religious and pious.
At the gate, religious leaders gather a mob of Jews and they cry out that Jesus should be crucified. These religious people are crying out that their Messiah – the one they’d been waiting for – should be put to death. They couldn’t see the truth.
In John 18:37 Pilate says to Jesus, “So you are a king?”
Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
Jesus is telling Pilate that God sent Him to be born as a man to bring the truth to the world.
When I read the verse I meditated on that phrase – “actually, I was born and came into the world…”. I was struck with the reality that the God of the Universe came down to us. And here we have the religious Jews crying out at the gate to do away with Jesus. Inside, Pilate, in his arrogant tone, is questioning Jesus as a criminal.
Right here, if I was Jesus, I would have been tempted to bow out. I would’ve said, “Forget them all!” But Jesus continued with His mission of redemption.
Then in John chapter 19:18-22, Jesus is led away to be crucified. On His cross the Romans place an inscription that said, “King of the Jews”. The religious Jews were angry and insisted that the words be changed to “He said he was the King of the Jews” but Pilate refused.
What blind religion!
After Jesus was crucified on the cross, we see the Jews coming once again to the authorities with yet another request. When I meditated on the irony of this request it seemed to suck the air from my lungs.
Let’s briefly look at John 19:30-33
30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
31 It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. (emphasis mine)
The Jews wanted Jesus taken off the cross before the special Sabbath on which they would celebrate Passover. Think about this for a minute… The Jews wanted Jesus removed so that they could celebrate passover without hindrance. How blind!
Passover is a Jewish festival celebrating the exodus from Egypt and the Israelites’ freedom from slavery to the Egyptians. God rescued the Jews from slavery and that is what they were celebrating.
Are you sensing the irony here??? I’ve read this passage many times but had not thought of how ironic this situation is!
Right before them they were witnessing God’s greatest gift of freedom ever offered to mankind – the work of eternal freedom. AND THEY COULD NOT SEE IT!
Passover was celebrated because God made a way for them out of slavery. Here Jesus was doing the very same thing on a paramount scale and they were blind to it. Yet, in face of their opposition and rebellion He continued and completed the work.
What love!
What sacrifice!
What a tragic mess we are and what a loving Savior He is!
While I read the account I thought to myself if I was there I would shout out, “Why go through all this religious trouble?!
- Standing outside the Roman court to keep from being spiritually defiled.
- Taking Jesus’ body down before Passover so that it wouldn’t mare the event.
“What are you after? Your redemption is right in front of you!”
How could they be so foolish? How could they be so steeped in religion and miss the Truth?
How about us? Are we creating a religion that suits us and missing Jesus?
Are we creating a religion that suits us and missing Jesus?
Plenty of us are religious but are we spiritually alive? Have we been set free by the work of Jesus Christ?
Jesus told the Jews and He tells us in John 8:32-36 that He came to set captives free:
32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
Today my prayer is this:
Oh God, let hearts be opened to the truth of Your Son, Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for our redemption. Break through the false beliefs and bring truth to hearts today. Set men free. In Jesus’s name, amen.
I leave you with an excerpt from today’s devotion in Oswald Chambers’, My Utmost For His Highest. Consider these words in light of your religious behaviors. Are your beliefs leading you to the truth of Jesus?
Many people begin coming to God once they stop being religious, because there is only one master of the human heart- Jesus Christ, not religion. But “Woe is me” if after seeing Him I still will not obey (Isaiah 6:5 , also see Isaiah 6:1). Jesus will never insist that I obey, but if I don’t,I have already begun to sign the death certificate of the Son of God in my soul. When I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and say, “I will not obey,” He will never insist. But when I do this, I am backing away from the recreating power of His redemption. It makes no difference to God’s grace what an abomination I am, if I will only come to the light. But “Woe is me” if I refuse the light.
Friend, will you believe today?
