When Assassinations Become Entertainment

"I watched an assassination today,"  she said.

My head jerked upwards in shock, but she continued calmly swirling her spoon through the steaming bowl of soup as if she were merely speaking of the weather.

"It's not that I wanted to," she continued.  "It was just on Face book, and I couldn't believe the video would be of an actual assassination, so I clicked......and I just watched.

I sat astonished, not really knowing what to say.  Earlier in the day, I had prayed through an email from missionaries I know personally in the Middle East.  This couple reported how in a particular village where the UN has withdrawn, ISIS is methodically going house to house to all Christians and asking the children to denounce Jesus.  So far, he said, "not one child has.  And so far all have consequently been killed.  But not the parents." 

This missionary couple begged prayers for courage, for the grace to be able to minister to those families whose children have been martyred for the cause of Christ, and for the faith to accept their own martyrdom if called to do so.

A militant Islamic group is beheading children.  Assassinations are being posted on Facebook alongside videos of cat tricks.  And I sit here helpless, asking the Lord for deliverance, for Him to be jealous for His name.  I ask the Lord, "who can make a difference?"

Lately, I have noticed a pattern in Scripture wherein a hopeless situation presents itself.  Then, either man or God, Himself, seeks for a righteous man to stand in the gap.

This happens when the prophet Isaiah receives his initial calling.  When he is transported into the presence of the Lord seated on his throne with the angels proclaiming His holiness, Isaiah is confronted with his sinfulness and the sinfulness of his people: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips,And I live among a people of unclean lips" (Is. 6:4).  Yet, in the midst of this hopelessness, the Lord seeks one to go to the people of Israel with a message of both warning and of hope: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" (Is. 6:8).

Here, the Lord seeks and Isaiah responds as a willing man of God to stand in the gap for his people.

Later in Isaiah, though, the Lord seeks one righteous enough to stand in the gap--not to merely warn or offer a message of hope, but to be hope itself, to reconcile Himself to mankind...but He finds no one: "Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.  And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede" " (Is. 59:15-16).

This is very similar to when the Lord told Jeremiah to look for a righteous man in Jerusalem but found no one: "Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her" (Jer. 5:1-3).

In Isaiah 59, though, God provides a solution: "Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him" (Is. 59:16).


A few chapters later, God's search for one righteous enough to redeem His people occurs again in much the same language: "I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me" (Is. 63:5).

In the two verses above, there is none righteous enough, none just enough, none who seeks truth enough to intercede for the people, so God says his "own arm brought salvation," a reference to Messiah who alone is able to bring salvation for His people.

There was none righteous to deliver mankind from the sinful mess and devastation he has made of this world.  And so, God sent His son because He alone is "mighty to save" (Is. 63:1). He is the only mediator worthy enough to bridge the great divide between a holy God and sinful man.

In John's vision in Revelation, he witnessed this same search at the end of time: "I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals' And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders *said to me, 'Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.' And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain"  (Rev. 5:1-6, 9).

The response to this lamb is immediate worship: "And they *sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation'" (v. 9).

This lamb, this Messiah--He is our only hope for deliverance both from our sin and from the evils of this world.  Our response should be to worship Him, to seek Him for salvation, for deliverance both on this earth and in eternity.

It is an understatement to say I am devastated at the daily massacre of Christians around the world--especially of children who profess the name of Jesus.  I feel helpless.  And so I do the only thing I can--I pray to the one who can intervene on their behalf.  

Join me this week in concentrating your prayers on the Middle East.  Pray that God would keep our hearts from being desensitized just because this is happening on the other side of the globe.  Pray for God to work in a miraculous way to deliver His people.  

Pray for God to be jealous for His name.

Positioning Passover Pronouns

What amazes me about language is how one simple pronoun can change the meaning in an entire text. 

Imagine if I told my daughter, "Bring a necklace downstairs."  Using that pronoun, I'm likely to get anything from broken Mardi Gras beads to her church-only bling.  However, if I said "bring the necklace," this implies a specific piece we've already discussed.  If I change the pronoun again, saying "bring your necklace," my daughter would know not to raid my jewelry cabinet.

While this is a rather meaningless comparison, sometimes in Scripture, understanding God's true intent seriously comes down to a pronoun, or, rather the pronoun God chose.

Consider His instructions in Exodus to the Israelites concerning how they were to prepare the lamb for that first Passover sacrifice so the death angel passed over their household, leaving their firstborn sons untouched.  God said:

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.  Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats" (Ex. 12:3-5).

Note the progression of pronouns--"a" to "the" to "your," working from general to specific.  It is a picture of what would have happened in this lamb selection process and, more importantly, a picture of Christ as our sacrificial lamb. 

For the Israelite, the lamb would initially be a lamb, merely one chosen for being without blemish from a thousand or more others in the fleecy flock .  Tradition shows this lamb would have then been brought into the household, living with the family from the tenth until the fourteenth day of the month.

Once selected, a lamb became the lamb the family would sacrifice at Passover.  For those Israelites back in Egypt on that first Passover, it was not a way of salvation from the curse of the firstborn's death but was the only way.  

Then, in five days' time, the lamb became your lamb, one that knew and responded to your voice, one that had come to trust you so that when you led it to slaughter at twilight on the fourteenth day, it went willingly with you.  

Imagine what this must have been like.  Place one hand on that lamb as its lifeblood pours out.  Take this active part in its death.  It is impossible to think of the animal as anything but your lamb since you are the cause of, the reason for, its death.  Its sacrifice saved you and your family.

Compare this symbolic series of actions with Jesus, whom John the Baptist referred to as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29).

When He began His ministry, many believed Him to be merely a prophet.  Yet, He soon declared Himself not to be a lamb of God but the lamb, the door, the gate--the only way into heaven.

Gentle, meek, and mild, Jesus would have made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem with thousands of other lambs headed towards their Passover slaughter.  Yet, even in the midst of all those other lambs who would be sacrificed for the various families, He was the once-in-all-time perfect, spotless Lamb to be sacrificed for all mankind.

And in that instant, He became your lamb, dying for your sins, saving your soul with His sacrifice.

His Sacrifice became personal.  It wasn't just for mankind in general.  He died for you and you and you.

Just a few simple pronouns...yet, such a powerful message of what Jesus becomes to each of us who seek His face, repent, and accept His gracious, merciful gift of salvation.  He becomes our lamb.



Other Articles in this Jewish Feasts Series:
Preparation Day: 'Go to Church' or Worship
Reorienting Our Lives: 50 Days From the Cross
Understanding the Jewish-ness of Jesus
The Truth About Passover