They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head, they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty; then I restored that which I took not away. Psalm 69:4
We may be all but ignored as we gather today to remember the Lord, but we are not endangered or challenged; nobody disputes our right to gather in the comfort of our Gospel Halls to honour the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus himself never knew the freedom from being targeted or challenged. He was always at odds with those who would seek to destroy Him. And we might well wonder why, because from Him always flowed gracious words and deeds of loving kindness. They hated Him without a cause. Even Pontius Pilate recognized that the Jewish leaders delivered Jesus to him for envy.
They had no good reason to seek to capture Him and to offer Judas blood money to betray Him. They had no good reason to falsely accuse Him or to bring Him to shame before their false court. They had no good reason to drag Him before Pilate and demand His death, or to stir up the people to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. They had no good reason to have Him whipped, stripped, and crucified. They had no good reason to taunt Him as He was hanging in agony on Golgotha’s bitter tree. They – and we in our unsaved days – were His enemies wrongfully.
But just as we had no reason to hate Him, He could surely see in us no reason to love us. But He did love us, and restored that which He took not away. The first Adam lost much in Eden. He lost communion with God, he lost his place of favour, and he lost his life. In Adam, we shard in that loss. But the Last Adam restored all that Adam lost, and so much more. Such restoration could never be the work of helpless Adam. Only the work of the Almighty Saviour could restore that which we appreciate in His presence today. -Jim MacIntosh