NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD
OR
ABOUT MY FATHER’S BUSINESS
SUNDAY JULY 1, 2018
Scripture To Consider:
“His parents went up to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.”
“Now so it was after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.” Luke 2.41-50
Something To Consider:
The future and final Passover Lamb of God to be eventually sacrificed for the sins of all mankind, now attended Passover with His parents. Passover was a feast established by God just prior to His delivering His people from the bondage and cruel slavery of Egypt many years earlier. Because of the hardness of one Pharaoh, a prideful and arrogant leader over all of Egypt, God sent plagues upon the land in order to get Pharaoh’s attention. Each time God preceded a plague with a warning from Moses, “Let My people go.” Egypt in Scripture is a spiritual picture of the world with all of its evil enslaving influences aimed at the human race on a daily basis.
The final and fatal plague was to bring death to every firstborn male child in all of Egypt. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6.23; “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The wages of our sin, especially our pride, our arrogance, and our hard heartedness against the Word of God, affect us physically, spiritually, and eternally. But we thank God for His making a way of escape for those Jewish descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were living in Egypt in the area of Goshen and living their lives as unto their God and creator.
And the same mercy God showed those living in Goshen who were seeking to obey the commands of their God is the same mercy to be shown those living upon planet earth who seek to obey the commands of their God when Jesus returns.
At the original Passover in Egypt many years earlier, a male lamb of the first year without blemish was selected and slain. Its blood was to be placed on the side posts and top lintel or the door header of the entrance to every home of those who believed and who belonged to God and yet were living in Egypt. As the blood was applied to the overhead lintel, some of the blood would drop to the threshold below, forming the sign of the cross. Seeing the blood, the death angel would pass by, or “Passover.”
Something Else To Consider:
Seeing nothing but the blood at the entrance to every believing family door, the death angel would pass over. The death angel saw only the blood! He did not see the color of a person’s skin. He did not see the culture or custom of a country. He did not see the sin of a man, woman, or young person, no matter how insidious the sin. He saw nothing but the blood of the lamb that was slain.
The same remains true today! Therefore, has the blood of God’s Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, been spiritually applied to the entrance of our lives, our homes, our families, our marriage’s, our churches, and our countries? And if not, why not?
The Passover picture still reminds us that nothing but the blood of Jesus, as the old hymn writer rightly implied; “What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me pure within, nothing but the blood of Jesus! Oh, precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus!” Looking back at the Passover picture, is like looking to the nail scarred and blood-soaked hands of Jesus, the Lamb of God, reaching out to every generation.
Something More To Consider:
“How could we have been so foolish? How could we have been so forgetful? How could we have let such a thing happen?” Surely these were only a few terror-filled thoughts of a distraught mother and a much desperate foster father. “Where in the world could He be?” This they must have asked one another many times over.
“How could the Son of God be missing?” This they must have thought. So, it was after three days they finally found Him in the temple, the place of worship and teaching, listening intently and asking astonishing questions.
Amazingly in a moment of time their heaviness of heart was replaced with joy unspeakable; followed by a mother’s best attempt at a mild rebuke. “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” Seeking the Son of God is good, especially when we suddenly and surprisingly find Him missing from our lives due to our neglect of Him! And yet, it happens. It happens sometimes without our realizing we have lost sight of Jesus, His Word, and or His commandments.
But, in a moment of time the heaviness of heart can be replaced with joy unspeakable as was the case of Joseph and Mary. And yet, if there is no heaviness of heart, no remorse at our missing Jesus, there should be great concern over the sudden hardness of our hearts as it pertains to the Passover Lamb, Jesus, being missing from our lives.
Jesus’ response to His mother’s rebuke was more than a young son’s best attempt at a returned mild rebuke. If nothing else, these were the first words ever recorded of Jesus, the Son of God missing three days in the minds of some very frantic and foolish feeling parents. “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
But they did not understand what it was that He was saying. Could it have been that Jesus at age twelve was beginning to understand His mission, His message, and His method of fulfilling His Father’s business? Certainly the window to this wisdom had been opened, if even ever so slightly.
All the teachers who heard Jesus that day in the temple were astonished at His biblical understanding. Unless the Son of God is missing from our lives we cannot but be astonished at His understanding that floods over our souls as mighty rushing rivers of living water, pouring forth from His Word. As leaders and leaders in training we must be about finding what is our heavenly Father’s business for our lives and then pursue it with all the passion we can. But our first spiritual step in our understanding the Father’s business for our lives is making sure the Son of God is not missing from our daily lives.
A Few Final Words:
In John’s gospel chapter 4 we find Jesus at a well in Samaria while His disciples have gone into a nearby village to obtain some food. There Jesus strikes up a conversation with a Samaritan woman of a somewhat questionable background, a lot like many of us no doubt. Thinking Jesus to be a prophet she asks Him a question in verse 20. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Women, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.” In verse 23 Jesus added, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” We are indeed living in those times! Are we worshipping the Father in spirit and in the truth of His written Word? And if not, why not?
Jesus was always about His Father’s business. Can the same be honestly said of us? It must begin with the truth of the old hymn, nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away our sin and make us pure. Otherwise, how can we expect to be used by God in order to be about our Father’s business?
Seeking Jesus, seeking God’s forgiveness when needed, seeking to remain obedient to God’s Word keeps us pursuing our heavenly Father’s business. Wise spiritual leaders and wise leaders in training would do well to be about more than just any worldly business at hand, but rather to be passionately focused on the father’s business plan for our lives.
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, fill us with Your vision for Your business, and grant us the power and passion to pursue Your plan all the remaining days of our lives. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 