At the end of Joshua's ministry, he warned Israel of the danger of turning away from the Lord. He warned them: "ye cannot serve the Lord!" He gave as the reason that God is holy and jealous, and Israel would not keep His commandments.
Although meant as a taunt to urge Israel to cleave unto God, what Joshua said then was literally true: nobody can keep God's law, so nobody can be right with God by his own efforts.
How foolish it was for Israel to turn away from the God Who gave them everything and worked mighty miracles on their behalf! They proved that men cannot obey God even when it is in their personal benefit to do so.
Our own country has turned away from similar law. We thought that our Constitution would bind the government, to keep it small, but alas, in less than 100 years we had already turned our backs upon it.
During Jesus' ministry, the Disciples seemed not to have grasped the truth of what Joshua told Israel. They had missed Christ's warning that their righteousness had to be perfect to enter into His kingdom.
But when He told them that a rich man can hardly be saved, they were thunderstruck. If the rich young ruler, who claimed to have kept all the law, could not be saved, then who can be?
It was at that moment that Christ beheld His disciples. No doubt as He looked at them, and studied them, He knew the perfect answer to their question. Yet it was something that couldn't be preached until it had been accomplished by the Savior at Calvary.
For truly, nobody can be saved by man's power, but with God all things are possible!
Christ knew, as He beheld them there, that it would be by His sacrifice that hopeless sinners will be saved! |
