Remember the two main truths. Jesus: “No takes my life; I lay it down.” And Peter: “Jesus, whom you crucified.”

5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.

Yesterday, we ended with: Because of Jesus’ faithfulness, God did not withhold His compassion from Him, and God’s lovingkindness and truth preserved Him. But, wait. I thought that the Lord was pleased to crush Jesus. How do we reconcile these two passages?

In trying to describe spiritual truths on a level we can comprehend, the writers used imagery and other literary tools. The “crushing” was God allowing His Son to take the weight of the world’s sin upon Himself. Realizing that Jesus is God, we can say that God took our sin and disposed of it. Here again, it is an elementary way of describing a cosmic event. Jesus told Nicodemus,

“Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  John 3:10-12

As we read our Bibles, let’s keep in mind that the content is designed for God’s children. CHILDREN, people! It is written simply and in story form so that we can grasp it. Let’s have grace with each other as we learn new truths and possibly new ways to view what we have learned.

Abba, it amazes me how our feeble attempts to understand Your grace do not keep you from loving us. I hang onto Your promise that I will come to know the truth, and as I do, it will set me free. I experienced Your truth when I first turned to You, and I experience it progressively throughout my life. Keep teaching me, O Lord. I’m a’listenin’! Amen.