Jesus Replaced a Comma with a Period!

 

By Peter Larocque – August, 2018

Greetings my friends, I am so thankful that I get to write about the Goodness of our God! Just the other day I was perusing through my face-book news feed and saw a discussion by some of my friends about God’s Justice and why we are not seeing it with the blistering speed as we would like today. The thought that came to my mind after reading all the comments was something I heard watching the television show “Blue Bloods”. The thought is, were they really looking for Justice or Vengeance?

There is a verse in scripture that speaks to this in Psalm 89:14, “Justice and judgment are the habitation [Foundation] of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” The foundation of God’s Throne is built on Justice and Judgment, meaning without them whole world would dismantle. But it is mercy [Grace or loving kindness] and truth that He has before His face. We must keep in mind that our ways and thinking are not God’s way. Isaiah 55:8-9, says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God lives outside time therefore He isn’t limited to 24/7 like we are. So, we just have to trust that He knows what He is doing and His Justice will prevail.

King David said in Psalm 18:29, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” God is Good and He will take care of us, there is no need to stress of stuff out of our paid grade! For us Bible readers who have read the end of the Book, we Born-again Christians win!

Then what or whom is God waiting for? 2 Peter 3:9, says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God’s heart is that nobody should perish, this is His mercy and grace, and loving kindness that’s continually before His face.
So, to all my friends who seem to be looking for God’s Justice or Judgment over the behavior of this world, let’s take a breath and take note of the tone of our discussions on social media. We don’t want to add confusion to anyone.

A similar situation took place in the early Christian Church which is recorded in Acts 15, here is how they handled it. We pick up the story in Acts 15:24, “Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting [undermine, unsettle] your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:” The Leadership’s responded in kindness which we read in Acts 15:23-28, “And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;”

God’s desire was to not burden His people with a wrong message that would lead to unsettled souls! No different today! Why have discussions about something that we have no control over? God’s time table is not ours! Christians calling for the justice and judgment of God on people or Countries is foolish! What we should be telling people about is the Goodness of God and how He loved the world and gave us Jesus Christ our Savior! It’s the Goodness and Gentleness of God which leads to repentance, not His wrath. There will be plenty of time for that in the future.

Let’s Do what Jesus Did!

Luke 4:18-21, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Have you ever read Isaiah where this scripture came from? Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;” In Isaiah where there is a comma, Jesus put a period and stopped reading! Jesus never said, “and the day of vengeance of our God”. Jesus closed the book after the comma.

Friends, Pastors and Leaders let’s do the same as Jesus did. The Day of Vengeance will come, but Praise God, not just yet!

Love to all of You and God Bless!
peterlarocque@hotmail.com