◄ What Does John 1:11 Mean? ►

There is much pathos in this verse, which is considered by many to be one of the saddest verses in Scriptures, for the God Who created the world and everything in it and chose the nation of Israel to be His special people, returned to the place that He created and to the people that He chose as His inheritance - but His own received Him not. And so He was despised and rejected by His own people; a man of sorrows Who was acquainted with grief.

For four thousand years, God had been progressing towards that point in history when His plan of redemption would finally come to fruition. God in His omniscience knew that man would sin, and had determined in eternity past to redeem us with His own blood. But God is Spirit and in order for the immortal, invisible God to carry out His redemptive plan for physical mankind, He had to become one of us. He had to be born into His own creation as a perfect Man and live a sinless life so that the innocent blood that pulsed round His human body could be spilt as the purchase price for the accumulated sin of the whole world.

And so the Word was made flesh and was born into the human race through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ came into the physical world He created, which was rightfully His, and He came to the land where He had placed His name. He came to Israel, His own chosen, covenanted people, but they did not receive Him. In one respect, Jesus came to the whole human race for He is the Saviour of the whole world. But in reality, Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He came to earth as Israel's Messiah for they were His chosen people and it was through the Messiah of Israel that all the families of the whole world were to be blessed.

Jesus was God incarnate, Who had come to tabernacle among His people as promised in Israel's Old Testament Scriptures, but was rejected. But by rejecting Jesus, they rejected the Father Who sent Him; by rejecting Jesus, they fulfilled the word of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote: "Who has believed our message?" And yet, by rejecting Jesus they opened salvations' floodgates, for as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become Sons of God.

God has to set aside His people Israel for a time, but God has not abandoned His earthly inheritance. As Paul reminds us: "If Israel's rejection has meant reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead." For we know that God uses both the good and the evil of this world to carry out His sovereign will.

Heavenly Father, how I thank You that You sent Jesus to become my Kinsman-Redeemer. What mercy and grace that even though He was so violently rejected and scorned, He completed His work of salvation on the Cross of Calvary. Thank You that anyone and everyone who believes on His name and His finished work at Calvary, will be saved. Praise His holy name, AMEN.