Dear Friends,

What could motivate the Lion to suffer the hyenas? Only an otherworldly love.

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Mouth abuse

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ makes it clear to me that “God doesn’t love me” is not the right explanation for our suffering. However…the sufferings of Jesus began long before the cross, and I don’t want to sell His sufferings short!

How do I know His sufferings began before the cross? One way is just by reading the words out of His very own mouth:

[Mat 17:17 KJV] 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I SUFFER you? bring him hither to me.

But the other way I know His sufferings began before the cross is from my own life experience.

Have you ever been verbally attacked? Screamed at? Slandered? Then you know that it is a real form of suffering. You know the intense frustration it can cause. You know that desperate, furious need to justify and defend yourself. As we consider the vicious, wide-ranging verbal abuse suffered by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the LOVE that motivated His forbearance becomes impossible to miss.

I was going to call today’s topic “verbal abuse”…read on to see why I had to broaden it!

They called Him a vandal

Though He Himself was the Chief Corner Stone of a “holy temple in the Lord”…

[Eph 2:20-21 KJV] 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner [stone]; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

…they lied and said He was planning to destroy the temple:

[Mar 14:58 KJV] 58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

A less gracious God could have said “Vandalism? I’ll show you some vandalism,” and then razed the entire city with fire and brimstone. He showed He had the power to do just that in Genesis 19…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him anti-government

Though He was always respectful of governmental authorities…

[Luk 20:25 KJV] 25 And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.

…they slandered Him as an enemy of Caesar:

[Jhn 19:12 KJV] 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

In response to the smearing of His reputation, He could have used giant stones from the sky to smear His slanderers’ bodies on the ground. He showed He had the power to do just that in Joshua 10…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him a glutton

Though He fasted for forty days…

[Mat 4:2 KJV] 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

…these wicked, envious men, of whom I am chief, called Him a glutton:

[Luk 7:34 KJV] 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

They said He was gorging Himself at meals; they refused to understand that a single command from Him would cause the earth to cleave asunder and gorge itself on them. He showed He had the power to do just that in Numbers 16…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him a drunk

Though He demonstrated the ability to turn ordinary water into premium wine, but only used that ability once, to save a wedding feast from ruin and a family from shame….

[Jhn 2:9-10 KJV] 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now.

…they slandered him as a drunkard:

[Luk 7:34 KJV] 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

Accused of consuming too much alcohol, He could have willed fire to come down from heaven and consume every last drop of wine in Jerusalem in an instant. He showed He had the power to do just that in I Kings 18:38…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him immoral by association

Though He lived a life of spotless integrity, though He established a track record of righteousness that cannot even be compared to the record of mortal men…

[Heb 7:26 KJV] 26 For such an high priest became us, [who is] holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

…His critics impugned His impeccable character because of His association with people that the self-righteous critics considered themselves superior to.

[Luk 7:34 KJV] 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

Under fire due to His associations with those less skilled at dressing up their sins, He could have easily introduced His critics to another, far holier subset of His associates…by calling down 12 legions of angels and triggering an Extinction Level Event. He showed He had the power to do just that in II Kings 19 and Matthew 26:53…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him a demoniac

Though some were willing to admit the clear implications of His healing ministry…

[Jhn 10:21 KJV] 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 

…many envious holier-than-thous claimed that He was possessed and in league with Satan:

[Mar 3:22 KJV] 22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

Accused of being possessed and working with Satan, He could have relaxed His restraining hand for a moment, giving the demons the chance to wreak all manner of disease, natural disaster, and suicide on a defenseless populace. He showed He had the power to do just that in Job 1-2 and Matthew 8:32…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him a weakling

If you can imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cena and Jet Li cowering on the ground in front of a certain Man, then you can imagine the scene in the garden of Gethsemane when that Man spoke a few, simple words…

[Jhn 18:6 KJV] 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am [he], they went backward, and fell to the ground.

…but despite all that, they claimed He could not deliver Himself from a simple crucifixion:

[Mar 15:31 KJV] 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

Imagine the mic drop moment, imagine the retweets, imagine the viral videos and Facebook likes and shares if, in response to this ridiculous charge of helplessness, Jesus Christ had taken the very nails that they crucified Him with and stabbed every single Roman soldier, and every single Pharisee, and every single chief priest standing there through the heart. Yes, He could have spilled enough blood to make Saving Private Ryan look like an episode of Sesame Street if He had really wanted. He showed He had the power to do just that in Judges 15:15…

…so, why did He forbear?

They called Him a blasphemer

They called GOD a blasphemer….

[Mar 14:61-64 KJV] 61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? 62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? 64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

…I don’t even know where to start!!!

And to top it all off…

The Word was made flesh.

The eternal Logos, the Arche, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, left His gleaming, unshakeable throne in the halls of eternity and came down to earth…

[Phl 2:7 KJV] 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 

……….and we spit on Him:

[Mar 14:65 KJV] 65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

And that is why I had to call this post, not merely Verbal Abuse, but Mouth Abuse! Now, someone acting rationally would not spit in the face of the One Who could easily summon a leviathan to spit back, not with icky saliva but with face-melting fire. God showed He had the power to do just that in Job 41…

…so, why did He forbear?

Are you hurting, child?

Has this cruel world chewed you up and spit you out? Are you feeling misunderstood, unloved, left out in the cold? Then I beg you, my dear friend, to go to the Throne. Yes, there is a throne where you can obtain mercy and find grace, and the One sitting on that throne knows your pain! Not just because He knows everything; no, Jesus knows your pain because they did the same thing to Him. That, I believe, is part of the reason that He chose to forbear his hateful attackers so many times prior to the cross:

[Heb 4:15 KJV] 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED like as [we are, yet] without sin.

Plus, you have to figure that one or two blasts of holy power from Jesus, in response to all the hateful words mentioned above, might have frightened his enemies too much and delayed the crucifixion. “If He rained down fire and brimstone after our verbal assaults, what kind of inferno will be unleashed if we try to lay hands on him??” You get the idea.

So, why did He forbear? Because He LOVES you, my dear, hurting child of God!!!

Yes, but mouth abuse

I am blogging to myself as much as to you, my dear friend. When we are attacked, we need to remember that He was attacked more. When we are maligned, we need to remember that we actually deserve some of the criticism coming our way, whereas He deserved NONE of it. When we are slandered, we should remember that Jesus, in the same situation, chose not to flash-fry our entire planet. In turn, in our tiny little share of cosmic history, we can decide not to speak hatefully to our critics.

When God looked down from the heavens on our depravity, hatred and evil, He could have righteously ended it ALL with one giant thunderbolt, my friends. Instead, He sent Jesus, Who proved His LOVE for us so many times over, bearing every nasty, cruel, flaming spear that this dark world hurled at Him.

He bore it all for you, my dear, hurting friend, so I want you to know, as you pass through your darkest nights, your deepest waters, and your hottest fires, that “God doesn’t love me” is not the answer!

Yes, you’re hurting, and yes, you’re struggling to see how this could happen if God really loves you…

…but for the love of God, look at His sufferings for you, some of which I spelled out today (mouth abuse!) and some of which I pray I can spell out later. Just look at His sufferings and receive the fact that…

…HE LOVES YOU!!!