Luke 23:34,
33 And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
35 And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.”
36 And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine,
37 and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”
38 Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Jesus was beaten and tortured beyond belief. He was spurned, laughed at, and ridiculed. He was treated like a freak in a carnival show, only no one had to pay to watch Him. Aside from the horrendous physical treatment of Him, He was also on display to be mocked and spat upon.
He was the Word, apart from whom nothing has come into being. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. The Father so loved the world, that He sent Him to reconcile the world to Himself through Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
Of Him, Isaiah wrote in Chapter 53,
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face,
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living,
For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
Stephen was a disciple full of grace and power and was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Some men started an argument with him and being unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking, they put forward false witnesses to say they had heard Stephen speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God and the Law.
He was taken to the Council (Sanhedrin) and there he began a discourse starting with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, then Joseph, and then Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon. He explained how God chose Moses, a person some Israelites had cast out because he had killed an Egyptian, even though he did it in defense of an Israelite, and used him to be a ruler and deliverer for Israel.
He ended with, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it,”
For this discourse, he was stoned to death. Hear what he said as those whose fathers had killed the prophets who foretold of Jesus appearing continued throwing stones at him out of anger for something he did not do. The two last sentences spoken by this dying man were, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Acts 7:59- 60,
59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.
- Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
- Stephen said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”
Neither Jesus nor Stephen was guilty of the things they were accused of, yet while being murdered they both prayed for their accusers and murderers, asking God not to hold it against them. Jesus taught it, Stephen followed it, and so it is ———
Matthew 5:43-48,
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR, and hate your enemy.’
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you
45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same?
47 “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This pertains to all followers of Christ. Not one of us is exempt, and not one enemy is exempt either. We must love all of them. We are to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus said this, not me.
This seems a little heavy and many look for loopholes in an effort to prove it doesn’t mean what it says. But if you look at the prayer Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, it becomes very evident that Jesus meant what He said.
Matthew 6:12; 14-15,
12 “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
14 “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will NOT forgive your transgressions.”
This truth is so unpopular not many preachers will ever mention it. In order to be forgiven by God, we must forgive all who sin against us.
“For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it,” Matthew 7:14.
May the Lord add His blessings to the quoting of His precious word.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
P.S. Compare what I’ve written with 1 Corinthians 13. Our God is love.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
jondavidbanks.com 