Occasionally I will be dwelling on a verse or passage, ruminating on the message, (or to be honest, wandering off into some undisciplined daydreaming), and the Lord will bless me with a truth that is so obvious, so fresh and such a blessing that I just want to share it with you.

I will admit it. This is a post concerning ignorance, of my ignorance, or at least of my realizing my ignorance about ignorance. What are you talking bout Carl? Give me a chance to try to explain!

I was recently listening to a podcast called the Naked Bible, and the commentator (Mike Heiser) was describing how the Messiah was not clearly defined in the Old Testament.

Now, as a believer, looking back at the Old Testament and considering passages such as Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Genesis 22, passages such as these shout to me of the One who came to deliver us. But hindsight is 20/20, my friends, and to a first century Jew, who knew the Old Testament, the clues were not so obvious! We must remember they did not have the privilege of the understanding the Messiah while on earth, the Spirit of God to enlighten us, the resurrection event, or any historical teaching that has given us this clarity.

During this discussion on the podcast, Dr Heiser reiterated the ignorance of the first century population, especially of God’s nation being ignorant, as being an intentional act on God’s part. The message to the Old Testament saint came in small spurts of shaded truth describing the Coming One, often identifying a particular aspect of a His life or mission, or was a description of an earthly messiah like King Cyrus, that a New Testament author could refer to as a shadow of the True Messiah.

This provision of truth for the first century Jew created numerous religious thought, each religious group looking to their favorite passages to support their thinking. And ignorance was rampant!

And Jesus came to the middle of this ignorance and shone a light so bright, no one could take it in! The light was blinding, to the point that no one could clearly see the truth. And this was intentional on God’s part.

What?

Consider 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. – 1Co 2:6-8 ESV

Did you catch it? None of the rulers of this age understood the wisdom of God which was decreed before the ages.

But why Paul? Why was this wisdom of God not comprehended, understood or perceived by the rulers of this world?

This was intentional on the part of God. If they understood, they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory. When this “penny dropped”, my mind exploded!

As an aside, as believers, we do have the capacity to frustrate Him.

Find peace with Him.

If the Father had clearly revealed the plan of rescuing the world, the world would have frustrated Him! In the world’s wisdom, we would have frustrated God in our own rescue!

Isn’t this a common refrain? Consider Peter when he heard of the Master’s death.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” – Mar 8:31-33 ESV

If Peter had his way, he would have frustrated the will of God.

How incredible is the wisdom and love of God towards us who know so little, who think so wrong, who trust so poorly and who love so weakly. He is good, even in areas he restricts from us.

Let us not forsake His loving kindness and remember that love is for others and not ourselves.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.