My Time Has Come

1 Samuel 11:6 ESV

“And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard those words, and his anger we greatly kindled.”

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door in Wittenberg over five centuries ago, he had no idea what was coming his way. He was attacking the monetary policies of the church, and the wrath of that church would come to bear on him. Jesus also would attack the monetary policies of the religious establishment of this day. Holy Week began with a ticker tap parade declaring him to be the promised Messiah. He would begin the next day by making a whip to drive from the temple “those who sold and those who bought” (Mark 11:15). The immoral new way that the temple government had come up with to pay for all the infrastructure and bureaucracy had to be forcibly removed from the grounds by a zealous preacher, armed with a whip! From here he would start to preach messages using parables directly pointed at the powerful rulers of the temple, going so far as to show how ignorant their anti-resurrection theology was. He would preach that the ruling military power should be given tax revenue, that he might anger the zealots. Continuing the trend of “finding toes” he would declare the destruction of the temple and final judgment. Is it any surprise that in Matthew after preaching on the final judgment and the dividing of the sheep and the goats that the next paragraph heading summarizes as “The Plot to Kill Jesus”?

In all this there was no danger. Jesus had made the Ruling Class or “Elites” angry before and had escaped unscathed as he evaded capture. Nor does the anger of the crowd bear any weight on the discussion. He had angered them before as well, even having his hometown attempt to execute him by pushing him off a cliff (Luke 4:29). The anger of the elites was of no concern nor was the anger of the crowd. Over and over again he had simply evaded capture by some unknown means that is best described as God’s providence. What made Holy Week so different? Obviously, God's timing was the first cause, but what of the secondary cause? One thing had shifted greatly this time as opposed to all the other assassination attempts, Judas. Mary, in all her sweet devotion, decided to make a dramatic and costly sacrifice for the man who had raised her brother from the dead, and poured a year’s wages (300 days wages) of perfume on Jesus. This extravagant devotion brought Judas up short and he could not harbor such a faith. The danger to the followers of Christ was never from outside. The elites and the crowd were no danger to the people of God. They would fume, they would cast about for ways to destroy, but they would not be able to do anything.

The greatest danger to the church of God, is those that are in it who are not of it. The real reason Jesus was crucified is that his time had come. The time for his passion for us to bear fruit in his sacrifice on the cross that those who trust in him might be free from their sin. Free to worship and glorify God in righteousness and truth. The means for the scandalous act of a righteous man being condemned and executed, the means, “woe to that man” (Matthew 26:24).

When Saul heard of the great plight of the men of Jabesh. The Spirit rushed upon him and so unfolded his kingdom. Until another event happened and the Spirit left him to be replaced by his tormentors. It did not leave Saul because of what someone had done to him but because of what he had done. Saul’s greatest danger was never the Philistines or the Ammonites, it was always Saul. Such it is with us. It can be the individual, the church, or even the United States of America, the greatest danger is always from within. Guard your heart and do not give the Devil a foothold.

Coram Deo