The Redeemed Power of the Thorns

The more I read the Bible, the more inclined I am to think that we have so missed the good news about Jesus.  Man seems to have a way of turning it all into something about ourselves…a man-centered, works orientation.  An example of this can be found in the story of the woman caught in adultery.  I have mentioned this before, but it just keeps unfolding in such grace that I am overwhelmed.

The woman was set up by those who wanted to use her to catch Jesus in a trap.  There you have Satan’s game plan from the beginning.  We are the woman.  Adam and Eve are the woman.  You see that the law used against the woman to bring the religious leader’s condemnation against her is a law that was established to keep her safe from those who would accuse and condemn.  That is not God.  The requirement “do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was meant to keep them safe.  When the evil men took the woman to Jesus…naked, humiliated, and victim of their trap…their accusation and condemnation that she deserved death is the same scenario as Adam and Eve in the garden.

Romans 5:18: “Therefore, as through one man’s offense (judgment) came to all men resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

The word “judgment” in the above verse is an added word.  One of its meanings is verdict. The verdict that came on the woman caught in adultery did not come from Christ.  In the Garden of Eden the accuser of the brethren is the one who demanded a death of those who had been deceived.  Read the story of Job and you quickly see the same thing being played out.  This time,  it is against the righteous Job.  Satan brings an accusation.  In its fullness, he is bringing an accusation against God.  He is saying that God must prove to him (Satan) that Job is not serving God for what is in it for self.

Unfortunately, we are often taught that it is God’s condemnation that is against us.  We are taught that it took the kind Jesus to come and change God’s mind about us.  This is not what John 3:16 says.  It is time to let the whole scripture tell us the truth about God and ourselves in relationship with God.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” John 5:24.  The condemnation is Satan’s; not God’s.  God has given us a way out of the accuser’s judgment (verdict) and condemnation. 

Romans 5:20: “Moreover that law entered that the offense (unintentional or intentional) might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”  In Hebrew pictographs, the emblem that means sin looks like a thorn and means thorn.  I find this fascinating.  Think of the word of God to Adam that one of the things that would happen now that sin (thorn) had entered the picture was the land would produce thorns and briers.  Think about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Think about the parable of the Sower and the seeds that feel among the thorns.  Jesus described those thorns as cares, riches, and pleasures of life.  Think about the Lord’s crown of thorns.  What Satan means for our destruction, God turns for our good.  Briers and thorns were also used by the shepherds to make a covering/fence to keep wild animals from the herds/flocks.  From the pictographs, we also get the meaning of “to cover.”  When Jesus wore the crown of thorns, He literally wore a covering for all of us.

One point that I find important is that we often think/define “sin” as a doing of something bad.  The Hebrew pictographs really enlarge our understanding.  It is more correct to say that it is something that has happened to us.  When Paul referred to his thorn in the flesh, he said it was given to keep him from being proud.  He said it was from Satan.  Satan wanted him to give up on God because he had this situation.  Like Job, Paul was in partnership with God to prove that God is both just and the justifier (Romans 3:26).

This enlarged picture of what is really going on in this controversy between good and evil is really amazing.  This is truly a star wars battle.  We had been captured.  The hero came and gave us a way out.  Now, our privilege is to be indwelt by His power so that He can continue to do battle for us.  Like Paul, we may have our thorns in the flesh which are meant to destroy us by the evil one, but God steps in and helps us to live with the thorns until the battle is over.  Together, we prove that He is just and that He is correct in justifying us.  Those who worship God will worship in Spirit and truth. 

I think that Satan would like nothing better than the work of God be turned into a man-centered works orientation and we think that it is all about us being rescued because we were victims or bad.  The best picture that I find of the truth is the story of the woman caught in adultery.  After her accusers departed, Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers?”  She said that she did not have any.  Wow!  Is that not beautiful?  What did Jesus say then?  Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.  Don’t collect more thorns than you already have.  Live under the protection of the crown of thorns and by the power of the blood of the Lamb.