In a world of hostility toward truth, a world infatuated with sin, a world full of broken people who want to rule themselves. That’s the world that Jesus was born into. That’s the world Jesus received, one with hatred. We shouldn’t expect to be received any different.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you” -John 15:18
In a political climate and culture wars we are harshly reminded that all isn’t right with the world. Total justice has yet to be served. We are a nation of lost souls who need the rule of Jesus the King.
Right now rather than joy and peace flourishing, tensions are high and truth is a battle to be bought. Jesus came into this world, freely and joyfully, and He walks closely with us.
Every day, a person either gets closer to Jesus or falls away from Him, there is no neutral ground that exists when it comes to knowing the Son of God. Each passing day, the lines get easier to see. I think this is why Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” -Matthew 16:15. How we answer reveals how we relate to Jesus, and how we relate to Jesus determines our eternal future. Those stakes could not be higher.
When Jesus heals the demon-possessed man the crowds fear Him and want Him to leave (Luke 8:26-29, Mark 5:1-20). The refusal of Jesus, the only Son of God. This refusal continues today, as people reject Jesus’s kingship, hate His light, and are offended by His truth.
If we are following Jesus, we might feel like we are in similar circumstances, especially as a result of our faith in Jesus. Jesus knew the outright refusal in a hostile world.
I imagine the increasing tension Jesus felt, of being preyed on by His opponents, because they wanted Him to mess up, and some actually enjoyed thinking it happened.
This was Jesus’s reality. The spiritual elite stuck close to Jesus not to follow Him, but to frame Him. Their supposed commitment to truth led to Jesus’s incriminating on the cross. Even there as He suffocated until His death, they cursed Him.
The world is clouded with hostilities of earthly accusations. It’s our greatest enemy at work. We should be comforted because Jesus knew the accusation of a hostile world, and He walks closely with us.
Jesus is a Savior who was abused, but He is also the Deliverer of abusers. Only the Son of God, with all love and justice, could appeal on behalf of His torturers.
One day Jesus came into a hostile world. The kingdom of God was broken into reality through human form, a promise proven in Jesus that His people would be governed and enlightened by Him from their darkness (Isaiah 9).
“For you will not abandon my soul in Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption” -Psalm 16:10
One day when Jesus returns to crush the serpent’s head once and for all (Genesis 3:15), His reign and victory will be ultimately finally proven and our battle against hostility will be finished forever.
Jesus came to conquer this world. And He walks closely with ours.
From Pity to Praise 