For Christ or Against Christ?
Jesus Christ calls people to enter into a relationship with God the Father through the way He established through the cross and those who enter into that relationship with God by faith, they would graciously receive eternal life. Yet, Jesus is sensible without fear of drawing out the lines that distinguish truth and error, right and wrong, and good and evil. Sayings such as, “He who is not with Me is against Me,” and “He who is not against us is for us,” sets apart the genuine article from the imitations, which is not always easy to detect.
When the religious leaders attributed the miracles of Jesus to the power of Beelzebul the power of demons, the Lord found it unreasonable to think that Satan would war against himself. The Lord’s words, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Matt. 12:30, NASB), presents readers with the reality that those who would follow the Messiah must also leave the world behind. Those who would call Christ saving work a work of the Devil, were committing an unpardonable sin, since their rejection also cut them off from God’s source of forgiveness. The message of the Spirit was blasphemed. The line of demarcation was clearly drawn, to one side, those whom attributed Jesus’ works to the Devil and to the other side those whom attributed Jesus’ works to God.
Jesus also recognized His followers extended beyond the twelve. When the disciple John objected to an unknown person casting out demons in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord said, “He who is not against us is for us,” (Mark 9:40), in other words, “He who is against you is for you” (Luke 9:50). Mark and Luke recall the same event, and capture the essential voice of Jesus. The God of heaven who knows the heart of man sees all things done for the kingdom of heaven, and God shall not fail to reward the righteous, even the righteous whose labor goes unnoticed.
Christians struggle between the old sin nature and the new life in Christ, and sin has an uncanny way of clouding our eyes to the things of God. We might base spiritual greatness on the wrong qualities, such as outward appearances, but “the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7b). James warns the church against showing partiality (Jas. 2:1-15), and Paul condemned Peter for acquiescing to the will of the Judaizers (Gal. 2:1-15). So as flawed people, it is not always easy to tell that certain people are not against Christ but for Christ. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psa. 139:23-24).
1. Mark and Luke accurately present the main point of Jesus’ message, and while Jesus’ words are famed differently in the two Gospels, they both communicate the same idea. What is being given is the “exact voice” [ipsissima vox] of Jesus as opposed to the “exact words” [ipsissima verba] of Jesus. Darrell Bock explains, “One can present history accurately whether one quotes or summarizes teaching, or even mixes the two together. To have accurate summaries of Jesus’ teaching is just as historical as to have his actual words; they are just two different perspectives to give us the same thing. All that is required is that the summaries be trustworthy” (Darrell Bock, Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus, ed. Michael J. Wilkins and J.P. Moreland [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995], 88).
When the religious leaders attributed the miracles of Jesus to the power of Beelzebul the power of demons, the Lord found it unreasonable to think that Satan would war against himself. The Lord’s words, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Matt. 12:30, NASB), presents readers with the reality that those who would follow the Messiah must also leave the world behind. Those who would call Christ saving work a work of the Devil, were committing an unpardonable sin, since their rejection also cut them off from God’s source of forgiveness. The message of the Spirit was blasphemed. The line of demarcation was clearly drawn, to one side, those whom attributed Jesus’ works to the Devil and to the other side those whom attributed Jesus’ works to God.
Jesus also recognized His followers extended beyond the twelve. When the disciple John objected to an unknown person casting out demons in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord said, “He who is not against us is for us,” (Mark 9:40), in other words, “He who is against you is for you” (Luke 9:50). Mark and Luke recall the same event, and capture the essential voice of Jesus. The God of heaven who knows the heart of man sees all things done for the kingdom of heaven, and God shall not fail to reward the righteous, even the righteous whose labor goes unnoticed.
Christians struggle between the old sin nature and the new life in Christ, and sin has an uncanny way of clouding our eyes to the things of God. We might base spiritual greatness on the wrong qualities, such as outward appearances, but “the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7b). James warns the church against showing partiality (Jas. 2:1-15), and Paul condemned Peter for acquiescing to the will of the Judaizers (Gal. 2:1-15). So as flawed people, it is not always easy to tell that certain people are not against Christ but for Christ. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way” (Psa. 139:23-24).
1. Mark and Luke accurately present the main point of Jesus’ message, and while Jesus’ words are famed differently in the two Gospels, they both communicate the same idea. What is being given is the “exact voice” [ipsissima vox] of Jesus as opposed to the “exact words” [ipsissima verba] of Jesus. Darrell Bock explains, “One can present history accurately whether one quotes or summarizes teaching, or even mixes the two together. To have accurate summaries of Jesus’ teaching is just as historical as to have his actual words; they are just two different perspectives to give us the same thing. All that is required is that the summaries be trustworthy” (Darrell Bock, Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus, ed. Michael J. Wilkins and J.P. Moreland [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995], 88).
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