King James Version
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners,
they said unto his disciples,
How is it that he eateth and drinketh
with publicans and sinners?
17 When Jesus heard it,
he saith unto them,
They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick:
I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance.
Do those things puzzle you?
The words of CHRIST?
The way He lived His life?
The way He showed up on earth?
The way He conducted His ministry?
Wonder no more, for we shall look into it here.
Merriam-Webster defines "paradox" as:
: one (such as a person, situation, or action) having seemingly contradictory qualities or phases
: a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true
: a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true
: an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises
: a tenet contrary to received opinion
The LORD JESUS was a mystery in Himself.
He was "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS", and yet He chose to come as an ordinary man.
Isaiah 53:2
King James Version
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him,
there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He did not come to be ministered unto.
Mark 10:45
King James Version
45 For even the Son of man
came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many.
He took on sin, despite His not having any sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21
King James Version
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
How about the mystery of salvation?
Wherein:
Romans 11:25
King James Version
25 For I would not, brethren,
that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
But it becomes clear here:
Romans 11:11
King James Version
11 I say then,
Have they stumbled that they should fall?
God forbid:
but rather through their fall salvation is come
unto the Gentiles,
for to provoke them to jealousy.
Such is GOD's magnificence, mystery, and magnanimity.
2 Peter 3:9
King James Version
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
And we've barely touched the surface.
John 21:25
King James Version
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did,
the which, if they should be written every one,
I suppose that even the world itself
could not contain the books that should be written.
Amen.
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