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QUICKENED SCRIPTURE: BLESSED IS HE WHO IS NOT
OFFENDED BECAUSE OF ME 4/04/11
I was listening to scripture on my iTouch and when it
came to the following passage, I was saddened by the
statement of John the Baptist. Previously John had
strongly declared that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God
Who takes away the sin of the world. John witnessed the
Spirit descending upon Jesus and testified that Jesus
was the Son of God.
John 1:29-36
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and
said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes
a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'
31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to
Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." 32 And
John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I
did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with
water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who
baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and
testified that this is the Son of God." 35 Again, the
next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And
looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb
of God!"
Now John is in prison for having confronted Herod of his
sin, and he has digressed, doubting Who Jesus is. John
asks, "Are You the Coming One or should we look for
another?"
Matt 11:1-3 NKJV
Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding
His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to
teach and to preach in their cities. 2 And when John
had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the
Coming One, or do we look for another?"
Jesus responded with verses from the Old Testament [Isa
35:5,6; 61:1] that John the Baptist knew and had fed
upon, having looked forward to the day they would be
fulfilled.
Matt 11:5 AMP
The blind receive their sight and the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed (by healing) and the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up and the poor have good news (the
Gospel) preached to them. [Isa 35:5,6; 61:1.]
Luke 4:16-22 NKJV
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.
And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed
the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened
the book, He found the place where it was written: 18
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has
anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty
to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To
set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord." 20 Then He closed the
book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed
on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this
Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
After Jesus quoted those scriptures, He ends His
personal message to John by saying, "Blessed is he who
is not offended because of Me." Jesus was exhorting
John to not allow himself to be offended because he was
in prison. The admonition was also probably addressing
John's expectations in his faith of what it would be
like when the Messiah came. Something wasn't lining up
for John and it caused his faith to doubt his calling,
himself, Jesus and the spiritual experiences he'd had in
order to believe Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God Who
took away the sins of the world. Every bit of it was
all connected together, along with the testimony and
faith of his mother who had carried him in the womb.
Matt 11:4-6
Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John
the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and
the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf
hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the
gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not
offended because of Me."
NT:4624 OFFENDED
skandalizo (skan-dal-id'-zo) ("scandalize"); from
NT:4625; to entrap, i.e. trip up (figuratively, stumble
[transitively] or entice to sin, apostasy or
displeasure):
KJV - (make to) offend.
NT:4625
skandalon (skan'-dal-on) ("scandal"); probably from a
derivative of NT:2578; a trap-stick (bent sapling), i.e.
snare (figuratively, cause of displeasure or sin):
KJV - occasion to fall (of stumbling), offence, thing
that offends, stumblingblock.
Luke 9:23-25
Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross
daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My
sake will save it.
One of the Greek definitions of the word offended means
to become entrapped or ensnared. This in itself
describes being in a cage or prison.
QUICKENED MEMORY:
RHEMA 3/31/11 PRISON DOOR OPENS
PIX: I saw a prison door of a cage that had
been opened by an angel. It looked to be like a giant
bird cage.
Ps 124:6-8 NKJV
Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to
their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the
snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have
escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made
heaven and earth.
CONFIRMATION AH: I ordered a new Bible in large
print and it arrived today. I was in the midst of
writing this post when Wayne brought the new Bible to
me. When I opened it for the first time, my eyes fell on
the following scripture. This was when the angel of the
Lord delivered Peter from prison:
Acts 12:11 NKJV
And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I
know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and
has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the
expectation of the Jewish people."
BEING OFFENDED BY JESUS
Matt 13:54-58
Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty
works? 55 Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His
mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses,
Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all
with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?"
57 So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said
to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his
own country and in his own house." 58 Now He did not do
many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Matt 15:12
Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know
that the Pharisees were offended when they heard
this saying?"
Matt 24:10-11
And then many will be offended, will betray
one another, and will hate one another.
Matt 26:31-34
Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to
stumble because of Me this night, for it is
written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of
the flock will be scattered.' 32 But after I have been
raised, I will go before you to Galilee." 33 Peter
answered and said to Him, "Even if all are made to
stumble because of You, I will never be made to
stumble." 34 Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to
you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will
deny Me three times."
Luke 2:34-35
Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His
mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall
and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which
will be spoken against.
John 6:60-62
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard
this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand
it?" 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples
complained about this, He said to them, "Does this
offend you?
John 6:66-71
From that time many of His disciples went back and
walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the
twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But
Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come
to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of
the living God." 70 Jesus answered them, "Did I not
choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" 71
He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was
he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.
Rom 9:32-33
Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it
were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in
Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And
whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
1 Cor 1:22-25
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after
wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a
stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and
the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Peter 2:7-8
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to
those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders
rejected Has become the chief cornerstone," 8 and "A
stone of stumbling And a rock of offense." They
stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which
they also were appointed.
PRAYER: Lord we pray that when offenses come,
that You will grant us Your grace to not become offended
by You, Your will, Your Word and Your way. Allow us
Your heart to see and understand how we may align
ourselves with You. We ask that we not be given over to
temptation, but be delivered from evil. We ask that we
may be given the honor of becoming Your friends and
giving You pleasure. Lord we know our weaknesses and it
is only through Your grace that keeps us from falling.
Keep us from falling, oh Lord!
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