The Heaton File

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)

Freedom Is Never Free

The price of freedom always comes at a high cost. In America, Memorial Day is remembered to honor those who died in battle to defend the American way of life. Many of these soldiers did not have a choice as conscripts in the wars fought all over the globe. They had plans and dreams of life, hopes for a better future, and the belief they would survive the battles. Sadly, death had a greater hand in their lives, and they never returned home to enjoy the fruits of freedom. Cemeteries are filled with marble monuments inscribed with the names of soldiers who gave everything. Freedom is never free.

It is fitting and honorable for the community to reflect upon the countless thousands of men and women who died for the honor of their fellow man and country. Freedom is purchased with the sacrifice of the willing and the unwilling. It is said that old men start wars where young men must die to end the war. The First World War was to be the war that ended all wars. It only took twenty-one years for the Second World War to erupt. Since 1945, America has been in dozens of wars and incursions. Wars will never end, and men will find ways to kill their fellow man. The United Nations is the modern Tower of Babel that proves men cannot live in peace with one another. Understanding the root causes of war will never come from the wisdom of men but from the word of God. Freedom is never free.

Wars are fought as a consequence of sin. It seems too simplistic to attach cause and effect to the nature of sin. The reason Cain killed Abel was sinful pride and hatred. Murder has been the staple of the human heart ever since. The darkness of sin covered the earth with a blanket of prejudice, envy, hatred, malice, and pride. Nations destroyed nations for nothing. There was no answer to lift man from the mire of death. Human wisdom could not solve the problem. Humanity could never know true freedom. The world was in a hopeless and desperate place. And then a child was born in Bethlehem. Freedom is never free.

The Son of God left His place with the Father to take on flesh in the form of His creation. Man’s freedom from sin began when Jesus left Heaven. There is nothing comparable in the annals of human history to understand the depth of sacrifice for God to leave His habitation to come in the form of man. Jesus began to free humankind from sin by first leaving His Father. The life of Jesus was a sacrifice. He was born of a woman. Jesus grew as a young man in body and spirit, fighting the wiles of the devil, refusing to give in to the temptations of the evil one. At the age of thirty, the Lord began His ministry, knowing it would lead to death on the cross. Freedom is never free.

Jesus kept His word to the Father and completed His mission to redeem sinful men from the scourge of sin. Adam and Eve disobeyed the will of God, resulting in the condemnation of sin’s penalty. Through one man’s offense, judgment came to all men. Humanity stood condemned. Freedom from sin would require the death of one Man. Through the righteous act of sacrifice, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Jesus paid the highest price for freedom in the history of humankind. There will never be a greater price paid. Through one man’s disobedience, the world was doomed with condemnation. By one Man’s obedience, the path to righteousness was made possible.

Freedom is never free, and it costs the Son of God everything to open the vistas of eternal life for a creature that did not deserve anything from a wrathful God. Memorial Day is a beautiful testimony of thanksgiving for the sacrifice of the countless who died to secure freedom. It took the death of one Man to ensure the price of freedom from sin; and what an incredibly high cost Jesus paid because of my sin. On the first day of every week, I can tell my God, “Thank you” for the sacrifice of His Son. I can tell Jesus, “Thank you” for the price He paid to give me freedom. I know freedom is never free, and I thank God for Jesus Christ.

In those days they shall say no more: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” (Jeremiah 31:29)

No One To Blame

The art of blaming others for self-made mistakes is common in the human spirit. Someone is always to blame for the bad things that happen or the injustices brought against an innocent person. Prisons are filled with voices that blame others. Social injustice comes from finding others to blame for the conditions of the times. There is a movement to blame past generations for crimes, holding present-day society accountable for reparations. In reality, every individual is responsible for himself and his actions alone.

It is easy to blame parents for the way a man behaves. Society can be charged as the culprit of destroying the character of a group of people or community. There are limitless ways to turn the blame upon the faults of others. The greater truth in this phenomenon is that it is all false and a lie. Blaming others for the individual’s actions does not agree with the will of God. One of the foundational truths of scripture is that all men are accountable for one person: themselves.

During the final days of Judah, before the Chaldeans destroyed them, the people cried out how unfair it was for the punishment of God. The last days of Judah had come, and a foreign nation began to move toward Judah to conquer. Prophets like Jeremiah told the people to repent, but they could not believe they had any reason to repent. What was happening to them was the fault of their fathers. The people in the final days of God’s kingdom blamed others for their impending doom. They were not to blame. A proverb claimed the fathers had eaten the sour grapes and the children were innocent victims of what their fathers had done. This same proverb will be heard by Ezekiel when the people complained to him.

God makes it abundantly clear that blaming the fathers for the sins of the children does not work. It seems the people asked the Lord for a pass on their sins so they could blame others. God would have none of it. He punished the people who had sinned without regard to their fathers, mothers, teachers, prophets, or king. If a person was condemned, it was because they were guilty. Ezekiel would later explain the soul that sins dies. A father will not bear the sins of the son, nor will the son bear the father’s sins. The principle is that each individual would be responsible for his own sin – regardless of who he tried to blame.

The will of God has never wavered from the fundamental truth that every person is accountable to God for himself and himself alone. A father cannot stand before God pleading the case for his son. The son will not be able to defend his father. Every soul will stand before the judgment of God and stand alone. The preacher will not be able to defend the souls of others. Parents cannot explain their children. Society will not be considered as an excuse for sin. Husbands and wives cannot defend one another. The soul that sins will die.

What is learned from the proverb of sour grapes is that God does not accept the blame of others for the actions of the individual. There is no mercy in blaming the fathers for eating sour grapes. When I stand before God, I stand alone. You will stand all by yourself. God is not a respecter of persons, and His judgment will not come from shifting blame on others. The judgment of the Lord God is the purest of judgments where all men are accounted equally based upon the individual alone. That is how serious the judgment will be. How do you measure yourself? Stop blaming sour grapes on someone else. You are accountable for you.

The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ and You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” (Habakkuk 1:1-4)

How Long, O Lord?

Habakkuk was a man of faith whose faith was tested by what he saw in Judah. What the prophet saw in Judah, and the holy city of Jerusalem tested the metal of his devotion to the Lord. Throughout the land, lawlessness and injustice ruled. The king was corrupt, and the government was filled with wickedness. There was no regard for the law of God in the land. The prophet complained to God, seeking answers to why God’s chosen people were acting so ruthlessly and how the Lord would address the problem.

The remnant of Israel was in tatters and facing the onslaught of the Chaldean nation, ready to pounce upon the helpless people of God. Babylon was a fierce nation destroying everything in its path with eyes on Jerusalem. Habakkuk took his complaint to God, trying to understand what the Lord would do with the Chaldeans. To the surprise of the prophet, God tells him Babylon will be His instrument to punish His people. How could God use a nation so wicked as the Chaldeans to punish His people? The history of Israel shows how the Lord used other nations to punish His people, but those nations were also destroyed because of their wickedness.

Egypt was the first nation to feel the wrath of God when Moses brought the Hebrews out of slavery. The Philistines and other nations of Caanan felt the steel of God’s wrath in the conquest of the promised land. Assyria was used to punish the northern ten tribes, and then the Lord brought the Babylonians to punish the Assyrians. Babylon would not be an exception to the wrath of the divine. The Persians punished the Babylonians, and then the Greeks destroyed Persia. Rome conquered the Greeks, and the cycle was complete. Habakkuk must realize the will of God is complete.

There is a supremacy of God’s wrath against all wickedness, regardless of who is guilty. Israel was guilty and was punished, and so were the nations who came against them. God is no respecter of persons when it comes to sin. Habakkuk was concerned for the nation of God. He was perplexed as to the righteous judgment of God. The Lord answered him with the reminder that all nations are ruled by the will of God. Kings are raised by the power of God, and the will of the Lord destroys nations. No people on earth are exempt from the divine judgment, including God’s own people.

Habakkuk reveals a dark secret of challenged faith. He asks the Lord, “How long shall I cry, and You will not hear?” There are times when the world seems against the faithful, and justice is not being carried out against evil. Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is the justice of God against the wicked? There is a spirit of revenge from the faithful against those guilty as if they are not accountable for their actions. There is violence in the world, and God does nothing. Where can the faithful heart find solace in a world torn by injustice? The wicked surround the righteous. Goodness is condemned. The hand of oppression is heavy.

The plea of Habakkuk is a familiar song from the time of persecution. In the Revelation of John, the souls under the altar cry out, “How long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” A need for justice prevails. The word of the Lord tells Habakkuk that the Babylonians are coming as instruments of God’s wrath. God rules in men’s affairs, which will bring peace to the mind in the midst of a cruel and unjust world. The world is filled with injustice and the heart will cry out, “How long?” Just wait. God is coming.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15)

The Voice Of God

The Sun is a star in the center of the solar system with a diameter of 864,600 miles. It is a massive, perfect orb of hot plasma pulsating energy outward. The distance of the Sun to Earth is the exact amount of energy necessary for life around 93,000,000 miles away. Scientists suggest the Sun was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago. They also indicate that the universe was created from a spontaneous generation where life comes from non-life. The truth is that on the fourth day of creation, the Lord God spoke – and the Sun, Moon, Earth, and all the planets and stars in the heavens were created instantly.

Nothing within the framework of human imagination can explain or describe the idea that the only thing God did was speak, and the heavenly universe was created. To understand the magnitude of such power is beyond the realm of human logic. No human being can speak and carry out such a feat without the power of God. Jesus spoke, and a fig tree died. He was on the water during a terrible storm and spoke to calm the waters. Jesus healed all manner of diseases by speaking. He cast out demons by speaking. His voice carried the power of His Father.

The first thing God created was light, and He spoke it into existence. On the second day, God spoke, and the firmament was separated from the waters. The voice of God created all the rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans. Dry land was established by God speaking. The vegetation covering the earth was created when God spoke. On the fifth day, the birds of the air and the creatures of the waters came into existence. The Blue Whale is the most enormous creature on earth, weighing 400,000 pounds and reaching lengths of nearly 100 feet. God spoke. It was created. Hummingbirds are only two to nine inches long, weighing less than an ounce. God spoke. They were created. God’s voice created the land animals. He spoke. They appeared.

How can anything be compared to the voice of God? He can speak and form a mass as incredible as the Sun. The Sun is minuscule in the universe compared to other stars and planets. The biggest star in the known universe is UY Scuti, a variable hypergiant with a radius around 1,700 times larger than the radius of the Sun. God spoke. It was created. If God can speak and form what is seen in the world and throughout the expanse of an ever-increasing universe, what kind of problem can He not solve in my life? Man is a microscopic atom compared to the universe, yet God knows the name of every soul that makes up the eight billion on Earth. He knows every need of every soul in real-time throughout every year since the beginning of time.

The universe is expanding not to show how big the universe is but to show man how small he is. In the smallness of this vast world, the God of heaven spoke and gave humanity a book that tells the story of the Creator. The Bible is the word of God, the voice of God, the mind of God delivered to man. Like the voice of God in creation, it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe and obey His word. The Bible tells us that Jesus will return one day without rapture or secret arrival. When Jesus returns, it will be with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. Everyone will know the voice of God. It will be unmistakable.

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16:13-14)

Who Is Jesus?

After more than two years as disciples of Jesus, the twelve were examined by their Teacher to determine whether they had understood the ministry of the Son of God. Jesus had shown His power with numerous miracles. His teachings touched the hearts of the people and challenged the minds of the Jewish rulers. Jesus wanted to know what His disciples understood about Him. He asks them to say what people are saying about the man from Nazareth. The reply by the twelve reflects the attitude that many had of Jesus and what they were expecting in their Messiah.

The Jews believed when the Messiah came, some of the prophets would rise from the dead. They had a material view of the kingdom of God, believing that when the Lord’s Anointed came, He would conquer the Romans and restore the land to its former glory of ancient Israel. Before Jesus ascended to His Father after the resurrection, the disciples inquired if He would restore the kingdom to Israel. The manifestation of a bodily resurrection would accompany the signs of the Messiah. It is to this backdrop the disciples answered Jesus.

When asked what people were saying about Jesus, the disciples said the people thought of Jesus as the resurrected John whom Herod had killed. John the Baptist was beheaded at the whim of the daughter of Herodias. Even Herod thought at one time Jesus was John who had risen from the dead. According to the pattern of religious thought for the Messiah, many considered Jesus the risen Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. What is remarkable is that Jesus showed His power as the Son of God, and the people were unsure. However, it was easier to believe in the resurrection of a prophet who died six hundred years earlier.

Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, and Peter proclaimed Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They knew He was not a risen prophet. Their Teacher was in His early thirties, ate bread with them, walked on water, healed any disease, raised the dead, cast out demons, and taught heavenly lessons with authority. They knew who Jesus was because they had been with Him, seeing and hearing all He did. The world had a wrong view of Jesus because they could not see His divinity because of His humanity. They could only see a man from Nazareth. The irony was it seemed easier to believe Jesus was a resurrected Elijah rather than He who was the resurrection and life.

Humanity continues to face the question of who Jesus is. Many consider Him to be a good man and nothing else. Some reject Jesus as being divine. A few consider Him a prophet. The majority of the world refuses to see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The world does not recognize the one identifying mark of God’s Son. Refusing to know Jesus as God’s Son has eternal consequences. Living without the knowledge of who Jesus is brings loss in eternity. The kingdom of God, the church of Christ, is built upon the foundation that Jesus is the Christ – the Chosen and Anointed One of God. Do you believe who Jesus is?

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. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Why We Should Not Love The World

If there is an absolute about life, the world is a difficult place to be in. There are so many things in life that vie for the hearts and minds of humanity. With social media bursting on the world stage, the attractions of the world have become center stage in everything. Sin has been around since the beginning. It comes in a different form today, but its nature is the same. Fleshly lusts are not new, and yearning for the eye candy of a corrupt and perverse world has always attracted the weak of heart. Pride rules the hearts of most men.

The evil of three began when Eve looked at the forbidden fruit and desired its wisdom, taste, and beauty. Nothing has changed. In the days of Noah, the world had become so corrupt with the lusts of the world that God killed all but eight. Millions of people drowned in a global flood that did not cleanse the human spirit of sin. When Jesus came, sin was just as dominant as it had always been. At the death of Jesus, sin did not go away. The purpose of the Son of God coming to earth was not to remove sin but to offer a way of escape. Sin still rules in the hearts of men. The world is not getting worse; it has always been worse.

For Christians, the challenge is living in a world dominated by the influence and power of corruption. When a man becomes godless, he turns his back on the divine to accept the pittance of worldly crumbs. An eternal truth illustrated by Jesus throughout His teachings is found in the pitiful language of men who spend their whole lives gaining the world, only to lose everything in death, including their souls. Men desire to live in the lusts of the flesh, enjoying all the fulfillments of fleshly satisfaction. To what end? Nothing. It all comes to an end. Men will exhaust themselves working to attain all the world’s wealth with its finest instruments of enjoyment and status to make a name for themselves, and to what end? Nothing. It all goes away.

The pride of life makes the human heart arrogant and self-centered. Every generation has those who think they rule the world with the influence of power and might, and to what end? They die and are forgotten. Death is the great equalizer. The powerful man dies as quickly as the peasant. Rich men are buried in elaborate tombs, and the poor are shuffled off in wooden boxes, and they both share in the reality of death.

John reminds Christians not to love the world or things in the world. When the heart is focused on the world, it turns away from God. The lusts of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life do not draw someone closer to God but away. What becomes the sad reality of the godless is they spend their lives embracing a world that is passing away. Death ends the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes. Pride is killed in death. And to what end? Nothing. There is no abiding for those who love the world because God does not dwell in a godless heart. Do not love the world. It is a foolish effort doomed from the start. Do the will of God, and you will abide forever.

Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. (Psalm 3:7)

Imprecatory Language

The Bible is a book of books that challenges the nature of man on every level. There is the nature of love and hope sprinkled throughout the word of God, including some very harsh and judgmental language. Critics of the Bible point out the severe language of many stories and passages as against the character of God. The idea that God can have a severe side concerns those who think of the Creator as only compassionate and loving. If the Bible points to one characteristic of God’s divine nature, it is the idea of the goodness and severity of God. This can be found in clear terms in the imprecatory language of the Psalms.

Imprecatory language is where elements of vindictive and vengeful language are found. It is the vocabulary of cursing one’s enemies. Imprecatory language is found in many of the psalms. These psalms express deep pain and sadness at the state of the world, often asking God why he allows suffering and evil to exist. They also contain expressions of anger and curses towards the Psalmist’s enemies. In David’s psalm, when he fled from his son, Absalom, the Psalmist seeks the wrath of God against his enemies and that the Lord would strike them on the cheekbone and break the teeth of the ungodly. This is a rather harsh language. Another psalm asks the Lord to break the arm of the wicked and the evil man.

David seeks the Lord’s vengeance on his enemies in the form of fire, brimstone, and a burning wind. He will also desire to have the necks of his enemies under his foot so that he can beat them as the dust before the wind to be cast in the streets like dirt. He wants the offspring of his enemies to be destroyed by fire. Many other psalms have imprecatory language seeking the vengeance of the Lord against those who stand against Him, including the prayer against Babylon to have their little ones taken and dashed against the rock. This kind of language is unsettling to the nature of man.

The covenant of Jesus Christ is established in imprecatory language but admonishes the followers of Christ to be forgiving, kind, and compassionate. Jesus preached that enemies should be loved, blessed, treated fairly, and prayed for. The early church learned to accept others who were once treated harshly into the fold of God. Jews and Greeks worshipped in the same place and shared fellowship with God in the church. Slaves and free were members of the same body and treated one another with the grace of God. A Christian’s life is to seek others’ welfare and good, which leads to salvation. While the life of the Christian is modeled after the spirit of love, the imprecatory language of the Lord has not changed.

Jesus used imprecatory language when He taught that those who did not do the will of the Father would be rejected at judgment. The Lord said few would be saved, suggesting that most people would be lost. Jesus taught more about eternal punishment than anyone and used language like everlasting fire, everlasting punishment, fire and brimstone, burned in the fire, furnace of fire, wailing and gnashing of teeth; the fire is not quenched, and hell fire. In one of the stories told by Jesus, He described a man tormented in the flames of eternal punishment.

Paul said the Lord is coming back in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle writes these will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. John describes in the Revelation that the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Imprecatory language may not be popular, but it is part of God’s word. It should serve as a warning of the impending judgment of God against all unrighteousness. There will be consequences for those who reject the will of the Father. We are thankful for His grace and mercy and eternal love. Through Christ, we have been saved from the imprecatory language of judgment. Only those in Christ will enjoy God’s grace. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.

And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.” (Exodus 4:21)

The Heart Of Pharaoh

After Joseph, his brothers, and his generation died, a new king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. Fearing the growing power of the Hebrews in his land, Pharaoh established laws seeking to genocide the Hebrews out of existence. The people continued to grow in number. As the king made life for the Hebrews harsher, they cried out to the Lord because of their taskmasters and sorrow of heart. God chose Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and to use Pharaoh as an example of the power of the Almighty.

God told Moses Pharaoh would harden his heart against the word of the Lord. Through the signs and wonders God performed in Egypt, He would show the world how great the power of the Almighty would be against any nation that opposed Him. At the time, Egypt was a superpower in the world. When God finished with the Egyptians, all their glory and power would be gone. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh seeking permission to let the Hebrews go. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. In like manner, the magicians of Egypt, through their enchantments, turned their rods down to become serpents. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard.

A series of ten plagues were brought upon the nation of Egypt. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard after the water turned to blood, and he did not heed them, as the Lord said. Following the terrible plague of frogs that covered the land, Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not heed Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had said. This hardening of the heart repeated itself after the plague of lice flies and the death of the livestock. The sixth plague was boils breaking out as sores on the Egyptians. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Next, thunder and hail enveloped the Egyptians with fire, destroying everything. When the plague stopped, Pharaoh sinned yet more and hardened his heart. After the plagues of locusts and darkness, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the king did not let the children of Israel go.

The final plague was the death of the firstborn over the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s household suffered the same fate as every house of the Egyptians was stricken with the death of a child or animal. No home was spared. Pharaoh relented and let the people leave Egypt. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh a final time when the king decided to go after the escaping Hebrews with his army. Pharaoh’s army perished in the Red Sea with the seashore scattered with the dead. God’s promise had come to pass. He had told Moses He would perform mighty works against Egypt to show His great power, and no God is as great as the Lord God.

God executed His great vengeance on the Egyptians with a furious rebuke so they would know that He was the Lord when He brought His vengeance against them. The Lord did not harden the heart of Pharaoh because the king of Egypt possessed a pure heart. Pharaoh considered himself a god and demanded his people treat him as a god. When Pharaoh wrestled with the true God, he was destroyed. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart because nothing was redeeming remaining. The Lord used Pharaoh as an instrument for His glory to show the world the Lord reigns in the affairs of nations. This has been repeated throughout history and continues to this day. God still works in men’s affairs, raising nations and bringing nations down.

Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. (1 Peter 3:16)

Living With Slander

Character comes from what a person allows to influence their life for good or evil. It is a natural reaction to respond negatively to criticism and slander, but what sets a noble character apart from others is how to face those who speak evil of a person. No one likes to be ridiculed. Specific laws are in place to protect individuals from defamation. In the eyes of the world, slander can bring a response in kind, seeking to damage the one making such accusations. A Christian has a different view of character assassination. The saints of God living in the day when Peter wrote his letters faced harsh criticism and severe persecution. Peter reminds them how God wants His people to act, and it’s nothing like how the world reacts.

Living with slander is the character of enemies of the cross defaming or slandering those who follow Jesus Christ. Peter will admonish his brethren to not suffer as a criminal but instead live for Jesus Christ, wear the name of Christ with courage, and face those who speak maliciously against them with faith. A Christian will not react in kind or with anger, malice, or hatred. The spirit of the child of God will accept the slander leveled against them with the spirit of Jesus, who was ridiculed and treated contemptuously by His brethren. How must a Christian react to harsh words of condemnation? An example of faith.

What sets a Christian apart from the world is his life. When the world sees the good conduct of life cloaked in the garments of holiness, truth, forgiveness, and kindness, the world will see the glory of God. It may not stop the persecution, but the world will see the image of Christ. A good life speaks volumes to the faith found in the heart of the Christian. Living with slander does not come easy, but the purpose is to glorify God. If someone is spoken evil of and it is true, how does the love of God live in that person? The world can see evil things, but let a person’s life be judged by their obedience to the word of God.

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Two Necessary Births

There are two elements that Jesus needed to come to earth, which are essential for His mission. Jesus had to be born of a woman and born under the Law of Moses. These two parts of the mission to save humanity explain the purpose and design of why He came. At creation, Jesus was there when Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. Adam and Eve were eternal creatures that bore the body of flesh. When sin changed the relationship between man and God, the scheme of redemption was enacted through the promises of God. To save the creature, the Creator had to become like His creation.

Jesus had to be born of a woman to be in the fashion of a man. God could have sent Jesus to earth as a full-grown man to accomplish His will, but the relationship of man to God would have been compromised if Jesus did not become like His brethren. The Holy Spirit conceived in the womb of a young virgin the spirit of Jesus to be born in the same fashion as all men. Jesus was in the womb for a period of nine months, according to the natural pattern of childbearing. When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, the days were complete for her to be delivered. She brought forth her son in the same manner all women bring forth their children. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

To be born of a woman connects Jesus with all the children of Adam. Luke’s genealogy shows that Jesus is the son of Adam, the son of God. This genealogy ties Jesus to the human factor to share in the human experience in every way. He is God, but He became man in the flesh. Jesus knew hunger, thirst, weariness, sadness, grief, anger, disappointment, and Jesus wept. He was tempted in all points as any man. When they crucified Him on the cross, He refused the anesthetic drink that was offered so that He would experience the full measure of suffering. Jesus died because he was born of a woman.

The second necessity for Jesus was to be born under the Law of Moses. Matthew shows in his genealogy that Jesus was a son of David, a son of Abraham. He was circumcised on the eighth day according to the Law. Jesus was raised under the Law and never broke one commandment. His life was measured by the keeping of the Law. There was never a time in His life that He failed one commandment of the Law. Breaking a commandment brought the curse of sin, but Jesus never sinned. He showed humankind that He could live in perfection before the Father. No man came close to keeping the Law as Jesus. Through the example of Jesus, the Son of God proved that man is helpless without Him. The Jews could not keep the Law given to them, and the Gentiles failed in trying to be a law to themselves. Jesus was a Jew, lived as a Jew, and died to seal the new covenant with His blood in the fashion of the sacrificial lamb of the final Egyptian plague.

The fullness of time was a single time in history when everything was ready for the Son of God to come to earth. Jesus had to be born during this time, He had to be born of a woman, and He had to be born under the Law of Moses. This makes Him the perfect Savior to all men, whether Jew or Gentile. Jesus can sympathize with the trials of the human spirit because He experienced the same. Living perfectly under the Law of Moses establishes His authority as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to the salvation of all men. Born of a woman and born under the Law. Thank God.