By Francis Frangipane
Increasing Lawlessness
We have to get to higher ground if we will escape the tsunami of anger and cynicism rolling through the world right now. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be angry or passionate concerning the issues of our times, only that we must become Christlike if we will make things right, for the anger of man does not attain to the righteousness of God.
Remember again the Lord’s words. He said,
“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:12-14).
When the Lord warns that we will have to endure “to the end,” it is specifically in context with not losing our capacity to love. In fact, Jesus said “most people’s love will grow cold.” This is a warning to us. Notice He mentioned three types of people: the workers of lawlessness, the church immobilized by cold love, and finally, those who possess and represent the power and love of the Kingdom of God.
So, let us examine ourselves. Has our love grown cold? Can we say we actually love our neighbors as we love ourselves? Are we able to sincerely love our enemies, even those from a different political party or race or religion? If we cannot love those who oppose us, we should beware: Christ’s warning about cold love is coming to pass in our lives. For if we’ve settled for an angry religion instead of a walk of love, we are not conforming to the Kingdom of God.
Study of Christ
When I speak of the Kingdom of God, I am speaking specifically of the revelation of Jesus Christ through us. There is not a different redeemer in Heaven than He who desires to be revealed through us on earth (2 Cor. 4:10; Gal. 2:20). This same Jesus who ministered in Israel 2000 years ago now, through the Holy Spirit, walks again ministering through our lives to meet the needs and conflicts of our times.
So, to pursue Christlikeness is to find the “way, the truth, and the life” of the Father’s kingdom. In this regard, in the early 1970s the Holy Spirit “parked” me in Isaiah 53, a profound chapter in the Bible. It is an amazing revelation of Christ’s heart, unveiling His approach to dealing with the problem of evil.
Of course, we know that there were occasions when Jesus publicly rebuked or criticized the scribes and Pharisees, as He also did His disciples. But Isaiah 53 reveals the inner motives and attitudes – the actual vision that moved Christ’s heart. So moved was I by this chapter, I took all the Bibles I owned at the time, over twenty-five translations, and recorded myself reading each version’s rendition of Isaiah 53. I began my reading, actually, with Isaiah 52:13, which introduces the revelation of Isaiah 53. I played the recording twice daily for forty days. It was the first thing I listened to in the morning and the last thing that entered my ears at night.
These particular Scriptures are worthy of a lifetime of devoted study. Each of the twelve verses, as well as the introductory promises of chapter 52, are gateways into spectacular realms of life-changing truth. But the summary of this truth must also be clearly defined: Jesus came not only to expose sin, but with sinless purity, identify with man’s sin and actually bear it on the cross. His prayer at the cross was “Father, forgive them.”
Today, many of us are quick to decry sin in the world, and this is right and true. Yet, if we will serve the cause of Christ, we must not only denounce sin, but identify with sinners and intercede for them as well.
Thus, it says of the Messiah,
“He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors . . . He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors (v. 12).
Jesus identified Himself with Israel completely and, by extension, took upon Himself “the sin of the world.” While we are included in Christ’s mercy prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them,” we must not forget that, in the immediacy of the moment, Jesus was looking at the scribes and Pharisees who had lied and had Him crucified, and were now mocking Him (Matt. 27:41-42). With His murderers in mind, He lifted His prayer, “Father, forgive them.”
Beloved, here is the way of Christ. This is the path of the Christ-follower. We see sinners in the world, their actions impact us, we speak against it, they turn on us, yet the final stage must be the mercy prayer, Father forgive them. Even in the pain caused by our stand for God, we must allow love to be perfected. Consider again the revelation of Isaiah 53:
“But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand” (v. 10).
The wounding, the slander, the attacks, the grief, and the crushing of the very crucifixion itself were allowed by the Father to increasingly perfect love in Christ’s heart. At every stage, Jesus demonstrated greater love and sweetened His offering for mankind’s forgiveness.
Christ had every right to judge the world; He could have destroyed the Pharisees, but instead He rendered Himself as a guilt offering. A “guilt offering”? In His purity of heart, He made Himself the “guilt offering” for those who were sinning against Him.
I know I have just lost those who feel anger is a virtue and now feel anger toward me. So be it. I am speaking to those whose deepest longings are to possess Christ who, like Paul, seek to “know Him . . . being conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10). What is His death? It is the sacrifice of a life offered on behalf of sinners. It is the mercy prayer, “Father forgive them,” for those who stand against us.
My Father, forgive the sins of my nation. Father, forgive the abortion doctors, the pornographers, the greedy and the cruel, the gang members and the prostitutes. Have mercy upon their souls; save them I pray for Jesus’ sake. Amen.