LET THE PEOPLE SEE JESUS CHRIST IN YOU THROUGH YOUR LIFE THAT YOU LIVE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Laat die mense Jesus Christus in jou, deur jou lewe sien”
Someone wrote to me as follows:
“I really want to know: Who are the gods that we read about in Psalm 82:6?
What is your viewpoint?”
Here is how I understand this passage in the Word that reads as follows:
PSA 82:6 I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
I want to start by saying that there are some theologians that look into this as the fallen angels.
I myself understand as a matter of fact that the Word speaks here of people in positions of authority.
This is how I understand this matter from the Word:
The first fact as I see it in the Word is that angels do not die like people. Take the angel Gabriel and the angel Michael as an example.
Yet we read in Psalm 82:7:
PSA 82:7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."
Psalm 82 is not the only place where God called ordinary people ‘gods’ because of the authority He gave them. I share with you one more example from the Word:
EX 7:1 And the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
The people who are spoken of in Psalm 82, is in my opinion the people in the society with authority, such as judges etc. Just a little earlier in Psalm 82 namely verse 3 and 4 we read what is expected of these people as ‘gods’:
PSA 82:3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
PSA 82:4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
Actually we read in Psalm 82:3-4 that what our Lord had written a long time ago to the elders of Israel and all those who were in position of authority:
DEU 1:17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.'
In closing regarding this question to me, I share with you how Jesus looked at this issue when God that sometimes referred to man as ‘gods’. We read:
JOHN 10:24-25
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
Then Jesus said just a little further:
JOHN 10:30 I and the Father are one."
This made the Jewish leaders very angry and they wanted to stone Jesus. He asked them for a reason they want to stone Him and they said to Him:
JOHN 10:33 The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God."
Then Jesus answered them and referred to Psalm 82:6:
JOHN 10:34-36
34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I said, you are gods'?
35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came–and Scripture cannot be broken–
36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?
So far concerning the answer to the question that had been sent to me – now let me share with you this great wonderful reality:
In the Old Testament, our Lord sometimes, as I showed you, refer to people as gods but now, after Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for us at Calvary, and you and I have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, our Lord in His Word refers to us no more as ‘gods’ but as ‘Saints’.
Our Lord refers to us in the New Testament also in other wonderful intimate terms – like brothers and sisters, His children, His heirs etc. But do you know – in this one Bible that I study, the word ‘saints’ is used more than 40 times where it refers to all that accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
I would like to close this writing to you with a jubilant passage of rejoicing out of God’s Word for all those that accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior:
1PET 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
How wonderful to remember as you read this passage, what Jesus Christ did for you and me through His sacrifice on the cross – We read:
1PE 2:10-11
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Let you and I promote this Kingdom of our Lord which we are part of, as the Word encourage us to do:
2 TIM 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Do you know what is so wonderful to me about this assignment?
I do not have to be a great speaker.
I do not have to prepare complicated important sermons and so I can go on and on – but we all have a life that we live.
So if you preach, it’s good – do it also
If you can sing, it’s good – do it also
If you can witness to people, it’s good, do it also – but above all that you do for our Lord –Speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ through your life.
COL 3:12-15
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
In other words –
Let the people see Jesus Christ in you, through your life that you live.
Greetings,
Sakkie