At the end of Christ’s earthly ministry, His enemies are so frothing mad that they’ve become complete idiots, for lack of a better way to put it. For three years, Jesus has been dominating them in theological debates, revealing that He knows the Scriptures far better than they do, that He understands the word of God better than they do. He’s tallied up a record of 300-0 at this point. And now that the Chief Priests and Pharisees and Sadducees have reached their breaking point, they’ve devised a cunning plan to get rid of the guy who always beats them in theological debates. They’re going to challenge him to a theological debate.
This is like if you’re a boxer in the 1960s and your biggest problem is that Muhammad Ali keeps coming into your gym and knocking you out in the first five seconds of a sparring match. And you gather your friends and say, “ok, I figured out how to finally get rid of this guy. I’m going to challenge him to a boxing match.” This is insane. It’s comically idiotic. So why do these men do it?
It’s because, in their minds, the word of God exists to show the world how obedient they are, how wise they are, how much they deserve to be clothed in honor and respect and wealth and prestige. That’s why theology exists–for their own glorification.
But that’s not why theology exists for the Lord of theology. That’s not why the word of God exists for the author of that word. For Jesus, theology exists because God loves you. It exists to bring you into the eternal embrace of God. The Scriptures are written, as John says, so that you may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.
God spoke to Moses through the burning bush to give you eternal life in the blood of Jesus Christ. God gave David the words of his psalms so that He could give you the treasures of His kingdom. Your God guided the pen of the apostles and prophets so that you could hear and believe and thus see and feel and know that the fight, the battle, the war is over. Satan is destroyed. Your sins are no more. And the God who stands victorious has now clothed you in His victory forever.
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