Okay, it could be better. If someone knows a way to normalize the image of Jesus instead of stretching him out like that I'd like to hear from you.
Why the new look? Because I wanted something different, something eye catching, and because I happen to like that particular image of Jesus. Don't you get tired of seeing Jesus as an effeminate, weak, Caucasian with European features? The man was a carpenter's son for crying out loud. To some of you that means something. To many of you a carpenter is someone who runs down to Home Depot to grab his supplies and lumber, stacks everything in his pickup and brings it to the jobsite. Today's version of a carpenter is someone who not only can handle a saw and a hammer, but can handle a host of power tools. (Think Tim Allen on "Home Improvement"). There were no Home Depots, no lumberyards, no power tools. Jesus and his brothers followed Joseph into the Galilean hills to get trees that they had to cut down into planks for lumber, or use other parts, such as branches, to carve down to make legs for chairs and tables. The may have a donkey, but they had no power tools, not even the refined hand tools that we have available today. They didn't have pickup trucks or vans to cart this stuff around in.
Okay Dave, so why are you bringing all this up? Glad you asked. It's because we get this wimpy image of Jesus in our mind, when in fact He was probably a pretty strong man, forget for the moment that He is God. I mean, Jesus single-handedly cleared the Temple in Jerusalem on at least two occasions of those selling sacrifices and exchanging money in the Temple's outer courts by Himself. His disciples were so shocked it theydidn't even ask Him why He did it, but after Jesus rose from the dead they understood.
I guess that's what it all gets down to...power. I mean Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders who held power over the people. He spoke with such power that even the winds and waves obeyed Him. Demons trembled whenever Jesus came near, because they knew that if He told them to leave they had to leave. No one on the planet has exhibeted more power than Jesus. Of all the kings and generals and warriors, of all the warrior gods of myth and legend, of all the many different people who think they command some sort of power over others, none has come even close to Jesus.
Consider this. Satan was once a mighty angel, the highest archangel if I remember correctly. Yet pride got the better of him. It wasn't good enough to be the highest angel. He had to be the highest being, but that meant exalting himself above God. Enlisting a third of the angels in heaven he provoked a rebelion against God. What was the outcome? Satan and those angels following him were cast out of Heaven. It only took a Word and it was done. That's all, look it up.
Now look at the reverse. God who was, well, God, the Almighty, had nothing to prove to anyone. He created a species of life that would be able to understand Him and fellowship with Him. He did this for our benefit, not His. Adam, the first of these creations, was given only one command, "Don't eat from
that Tree!" That's the David version. Of course we all know the story. People like to blame the woman for sin, but read your Bible. Adam was right there. What kind of protection was he providin his wife? Did he even once challenge the words of Satan? Nope. So when Eve was deceived and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil she suddenly DID know the difference between good and evil. Many people miss this point. Well, she wasn't about to go down alone, now was she? Being the only female, and probably the only perfect female up until that point, she knew just what to do. "Here you go honey. It tastes good just like he said." "But, God said..." "Now Adam, do you want to sleep with me tonight, or outside with some goat or alligtor or such? Eat, or I swear you'll not sleep with me again." Ouch! The oldest profession.
So now God, being the very embodiment of love, had to do something about this or all humanity was doomed. For He told Adam, "In the day that you eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you shall surely die." And that day Adam and Eve and all humanity with them died spiritually. Death was the punishment for sin, and that must be paid, but man couldn't pay it, for there wasn't a single perfect person around to die for the rest of us. In fact, since we have learned that at least in the past angels can also sin, we know that the only one who is perfect is God and He doesn't die. So what does He do? Instead of exalting Himself, lifting Himself higher, maybe killing us all off and starting over again, God, the Almighty, the Most High God decided to HUMBLE Himself. God, Creator of all things became man, in the form of Jesus (actually Yeshua) and He didn't just come down here to teach us or perform a few miracles. No, He came to die, that we might live. He came to reestablish a relationship that man once had with Him before the Fall. The choice is now up to us. We can accept His love and mercy for dying for us and find our relationship wth God restored, or we can say this is all garbage and continue to be an enemy of God. It's up to us. He's never forced our hand.
But I ask you this, who displayed the greatest power, Satan who exalted himself and was thrown out of Heaven, or God who humbled Himself and left Heaven to die for us that we might live? Who is more powerful? For Jesus rose from the dead having paid for our sin, but not until after grinding Satan's head under his heel as was prophecied in Genesis 3:15. I say there's no contest. I don't even have to think about it. It's like asking what weighs more, a hand full of goose down (feathers for you city folk) or a handful of gold? But like I said, God never forces anyone. The choice is yours. If you want to side with the real wimp, that lion that roars, but has no power, that serpent that has no fangs, go right ahead. As for me and my house, in the words of Joshua, we will serve the Lord.
