0782. Christ Rejected of Men

Christ Rejected of Men

"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (Joh_1:10-11).

There is stated here a twofold rejection. First the world rejected Him, and then His own rejected Him.

1. The world knew Him not. ‘Tis passing strange! He made the world and the people that dwell therein, and then the world knew Him not. It is inexplicable! "In Him we live and move and have our being" and yet we knew Him not. It is beyond human comprehension! "Every good gift every perfect gift * * cometh down from the Father of lights," and yet the recipients of His bounties knew Him not.

Why? "The world in wisdom knew not God." The world began to eliminate God from His own creation. They loved the creature more that the Creator, Who is blessed forever. They took the glory to themselves. The world became wise and in their own conceits, they imagined that man was God. They sought by wisdom to find out God. They refused to walk by faith. They refused to accept what reason could not explain. They refused to concede a personal God Who stood pre-eminent and beyond the ken of man.

2. His own knew Him not. The children of Israel whom He called out from the nations were His own. They were a people whom He separated to be a peculiar people to Himself. "And they esteemed Him not."

We need, in order to grasp the villainy of this act of His own people, to consider the marvelous blessings and the grace in which they moved.

Think of Israel! He found her in a waste and desert land. He called her to Himself. He led her about. He cared for her as tenderly as a father loves his child. He placed her out of Egypt, the land of her sore travail, with a mighty hand. He placed her on His shoulders and carried her through a great howling wilderness. He led her into a land that flowed with milk and honey, a land of olives and of wine, a land of pomegranates.

What more could God have done for Israel, than that which He freely did? He sent to her His prophets. He committed to her His oracles. He gave to her the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the service and the promises.

Yet, Israel waxed fat and kicked. Of the God Who begat her, and led her, and showered upon her His blessings, she was unmindful. Christ came to her, according to the prophecies. He was born just where He was prophesied to be born. He came as it was prophesied He would come. Yet "HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR