Healing the Son's Soul

HEALING THE WOUNDED SON-SOUL

Luk 5:31  And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are in health have no need of a physician; but they that are sick. 32  I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. 

Other Links to this passage:, Luk_15:4-7, Luk_15:32; Eze_34:16; Mat_1:21, Mat_9:12-13, Mat_10:6, Mat_15:24, Mat_18:11; Rom_5:6; 1Ti_1:13-16; Heb_7:25; 1Jo_4:9-14

Luk 19:8  And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold. 

Luk 19:9 And Jesus said unto him, To-day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luk 19:11 And as they heard these things... [Jesus found a teaching moment and his disciples had to hear what the Teacher was communicating!]

Another example: Joh 12:47 [ASV] And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. Joh 12:48 He that rejects me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judges him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day.

• The concept of 'judgement' and 'condemnation' have been so twisted that we see ourselves as judged, condemned... they see themselves as worthless rather than 'hearing' the words of comfort and hope that Jesus brought.
  Joh 5:44 How can ye believe, who take glory one from another, and seek not the glory that comes only from God?

Joh 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses [vs practice?], ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye do not believe his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

• We must understand the Law brought thru Moses [the Old Covenant] to prepare us for the revelation of Grace for the wounded Son-Soul.
• Absolute Obedience was Required of the “B'nai Berith' [Sons of the Covenant]. Hoekstra commentary, see below.
• Identity as a Son is NOW our identity. We are not identified by past actions.
  Joh 5:43 I have come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
• We come in our Father's name. We are Identified and defined by that NOT by our own human origins. We have not been identified by “

Israel's Response to the Law's Demand

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient" . . . Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. (Exo_24:7 and Deu_26:17)

God's law demands wholehearted obedience. "This day the LORD your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deu_26:16). When the Israelites heard this summary requirement of the law, they confidently promised that they would obey. "Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice." Forty years earlier, when the Lord first gave His law to His people, they responded in a similar fashion. "Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, 'All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient'."

Their intentions were certainly commendable. However, their performance was definitely unacceptable. Even before they had departed from the mountain where the law was given, they plunged into disobedience. "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it" (Exo_32:8). Soon after the death of Joshua (who led them into the Promised Land), they repeatedly rebelled against the Lord their God. The book of Judges documents this clearly: "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Jdg_3:12); "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Jdg_4:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Jdg_6:1); "Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD" (Jdg_10:6).

Twelve hundred years later, Stephen would summarize Israel's history of disobedience. "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Act_7:51). What a sobering evaluation of those who were so confident of obeying the law of God.

Dear Father, I humbly bow before You, confessing that I am so often like the children of Israel. I confidently promise to live in obedience to Your will. Then, I quickly stray from Your path and indulge my own will. Thank You for Your forgiving grace. Yet, I earnestly cry out for more. I need Your transforming grace to renew my inner man unto increasing obedience to You, through Jesus, my Lord, Amen.