Power of the Blood of Jesus – Volume 14
Message Summary by AFT Team
The blood of our Saviour solves not just spiritual and physical problems, but also emotional problems. Last week, we explored how Jesus took away our shame. Now we’re going to look at rejection, a tool that Satan will use to build a gulf between you and God – a place where you can lose yourself and your godly identity. Imagine!
Just as God does not want His people to live in sin and shame, He does not want us to remain in a state of rejection, which can make one feel worthless, unloved and unwanted. He provides a way for all to throw off the shackles of this crippling emotion and enjoy the victory and freedom that God’s love provides.
We love Him because He first loved us. – 1 John 4:19. Some translations omit the word ‘Him’ and say – We love because He first loved us. We can give love only when we receive God’s love. When a person has not experienced God’s love, they find it difficult to love God, themselves and others. When we accept God’s love, only then can we love ourselves and others. Emotional healing happens only when we accept God’s love and learn to accept what that love can do for us.
What is rejection?
Rejection occurs when someone is not accepted or not even considered. It can be described as a sense of feeling unwanted and unloved. Feelings of rejection can increase anger, anxiety, depression, jealousy and sadness. There are untold millions in our world who feel unwanted and unloved. Society is one of the great rejecters and the spirit of rejection covers all life situations and all types of relationships. There are many reasons for rejection.
Sometimes, it starts even before a person is born. When parents regret an unplanned pregnancy, it can result in a feeling of rejection for the child. Even while the child is the womb, it can sense what the parent is feeling, and it gets deeply imprinted with a feeling of rejection. While most children may not face rejection before birth, many face rejection as they grow up. One of the saddest things in society is to see a child who is unwanted and unloved – rejected based on a physical or mental difference. They may have a physical or mental disability or inability. Or they may just be different from those around them. People despise and look down upon such children. And because of this, they face unimaginable life challenges. Whatever the reason for rejection, children can sense when they are scorned. Occasionally they overcome this rejection, but sometimes they succumb to this state, ending up feeling worthless in a society focused on perfection and success.
Have you ever felt rejected in a personal relationship? It is emotionally draining and can be extremely painful. Where did it all go wrong? Failure in marriage also leads to a deep sense of rejection. The feeling of rejection from one with whom you share your life is particularly personal and it can be messy. But things don’t have to stay that way. Even in these painful situations, God knows. You may feel like no one understands and there is no hope. Israel had similar issues in failure, but there was hope. The prophet Isaiah likens Israel’s relationship with God to marital life in Isaiah 54:6 For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,” says your God.
God understood what Israel was going through. He understood the emotions that go with rejection and the situations that relay rejection. Isaiah points to a woman forsaken, grieved in spirit and a youthful spouse refused. Rejection is painful. God does not want anyone to live in a state of hurt and rejection. He sent Jesus to redeem us from these emotions, giving us the opportunity to have a wonderfully abundant life no matter our situation.
Jesus was rejected
We cannot forget that Jesus was socially rejected on many fronts. He was rejected by His family, His community, the people at the cross and His heavenly Father. This rejection was prophesied in Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Let’s look closer at the rejected Jesus.
REJECTED BY HIS OWN
Jesus was rejected by His own community. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1:11. Just imagine being rejected by your friends and acquaintances in a place where you grew up. In essence, Jesus’ community turned its back on Him.
REJECTED BY HIS FAMILY
He became as a stranger to His own family. His family knew Him like no other. However, He was now a stranger to them. They thought He had lost His mind. They did not know this Jesus. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children. – Psalm 69:8.
REJECTED AT THE CROSS BY PEOPLE
The mockery and rejection at the cross reached new levels as taunts and insults were hurled at a silent Jesus. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonour; My adversaries are all before You. – Psalm 69:19. He did not return any insults. His spirit was silent, bearing this for all of humanity. He was ridiculed, brought low and shamed, but He bore it all, even when the mockers shook their heads and implied that His trust in God was misplaced.
But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” Psalm 22:6-8
Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Matt 27:41- 43
When Jesus called out to the Father saying “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”, bystanders used His cry against Him and mocked Him. They thought He was calling on the prophet Elijah to come save Him. “Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” Matt 27:47. While they stood there, they continued their taunts and teasing, saying “Let him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save him.” They had witnessed Him saving others, and now they teased that He was unable to save Himself.
REJECTED AT THE CROSS BY THE FATHER GOD
Jesus had been with the Father God from the beginning. But the Father God did not answer Him now. Where was God? With the agonizing weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders, in His final hours Jesus uttered a cry of dereliction—a cry of one who has been forsaken.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46.
Have you ever known someone who lost their spouse after many years? It can be heart breaking as the survivor tries to go on alone. The survivor is accustomed to a partnership…someone to talk to. Someone to pray with. Now that relationship is no more and in sorrow they cry because their loved one has passed away. Think about the sadness of this condition. Now consider Jesus – He was with God right from the beginning of time, before the earth was created. He is the eternal son of God, one who had never been separated from His heavenly father God. Even while on earth, He was always communing with the Father—going off by Himself to pray and ask for guidance. Jesus was dedicated to prayer and sometimes he would pray for long periods. At Lazarus’ grave, He said “Father, I thank you because you always hear my prayer.” Jesus was in constant communion with the Father. And now, for the first time, we read that the Father God didn’t answer Him; God was silent. Why? God rejected Him because He was holy but Jesus had become sin, carrying the sins of the world.
Jesus died of a broken heart
On the one hand, the people around Jesus were mocking and reproaching Him, on the other hand, the Father God refused to answer Him and turned His face away. He was facing utter rejection. And that’s when He died. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Matt 27:50. He actually died earlier than was physically expected by crucifixion. So when the soldiers came to break His legs to hasten His death, they found that He was already dead. Joseph of Arimathea, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus to prepare it for burial. Pilate could not believe that Jesus was already dead so he summoned the centurion to verify that Jesus had indeed been dead for some time. Only then he released Jesus’ body for burial. This shows us that Jesus did not die a slow, natural death, He died of a broken heart. Bible scholars say that Jesus died of a ruptured heart. His heart literally burst from the agony and the pain of rejection at the Cross; He died of a broken heart. Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. – Psalm 69:20.
What a sorrowful death! We can never understand the pain and agony of Jesus’ death on Calvary. He died of a broken heart burdened with our sins, with no one to comfort Him. There was no one to take pity. No one to pray with Him to share the weight which He bore for humanity. He found no shoulder upon which to cry. Both man and God rejected Him in His last moments. Jesus died with mockery ringing in His ears, and rejection tearing at His heart.
The veil of rejection was torn
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split… – Matthew 27: 51
People may have thought that Jesus’ death was unremarkable, but then something remarkable happened… something that would shake the world. As our saviour breathed His last breath on the cross, the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom. In the temple, there was a sacred place that was off limits to everyone but the high priest. The place was separated by a thick curtain known as the “veil”. This most holy place or holy of Holies was where people believed that God resided. It was treated with the utmost reverence – common man could never see it, the High priest could enter it only after atoning for his own sins and the sins of the people, and even he entered it at the risk of losing his life. The veil signified that sinful man could never enter our Holy God’s presence.
When Jesus died, the veil of the temple was torn and the earth began to shake. Rocks split. Graves opened. It didn’t take long for people to realize that Jesus death was no ordinary death. This was God’s beloved son who had died for the sins of mankind. His death was significant and brought new life to the world. The veil shielding the Holy place tore to signify that man was now no longer rejected, he could boldly enter God’s presence. The veil didn’t tear by itself, it was much too thick, some say about four inches. It was God’s doing. Because Jesus was rejected, man was now accepted by God. The way to approach God was now open to everyone.
We are highly favoured
In Ephesians 1:3-6 Paul explains that all of our spiritual blessings have been achieved through Jesus’ death on the cross. We were chosen and now we are accepted in the “beloved.”
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. – Ephesians 1:3-6
Let’s look at the phrase – ‘made us accepted in the Beloved’. In the margin of my Bible, ‘made’ is denoted as ‘bestowed grace (favour) upon us’. ‘Accepted’ means ‘to be shown grace’. Paul uses the same term “accepted” that is also used in Luke 1:28 in reference to Mary finding out that she would bear the son of God. In this instance, ‘made accepted’ is translated as ‘highly favoured’. We are not just accepted by God, we are highly favoured of God. What a wonder and a privilege!
That day on the cross did something wonderful for us. We were unworthy, ashamed to face God, but Jesus died and opened up a new future for us. Even in our imperfections, God sees fit to love us and favour us. We who were separated from God because of sin, rejected because of our sin, are now accepted because of Jesus Christ. We are highly favoured and brought closer to God through the cross. The cross tells us daily that we are blessed to walk freely in victory and joy. We are wanted. We are loved. We are accepted. We are highly favoured.
Other links
- Watch the video of the whole message
- Start here with blog post of Volume 01
