A few months ago, I found myself agonizing in prayer asking whether I could be trusted with the things of God. Feelings of inadequacy and doubt flooded my heart, as I wondered why God would choose to entrust me with His purposes. I was also uncertain about the kind of people God entrusts Himself to- Does He choose the experienced; or perhaps those with a track record of victories in those areas in which they are mandated; or those with certain social status that makes them acceptable before men. Thus, in distress I asked God, “To whom do you entrust yourself to?” The answer did not come immediately, but I perceived that all that the Lord desired me to do is to say Yes to His command and guidance. Alvin Slaughter’s song, “Yes Lord” ministered to me greatly through that season. It was baffling that God’s answer to my many questions was, “I only need your Yes”, implying that submission was essential in God fulfilling His will in my life. Several weeks later, I begun to read the book of John, as part of my daily bible study and I couldn’t help but stop at John chapter 2:12-15 and meditate on that portion of scripture. Through His word, God began to teach me and enlighten the answer to my question.
Jesus visited Jerusalem for the Passover Feast as recorded in John chapter 2:12-25 and while there, He performed many miraculous signs. Consequently, many who saw the miraculous signs believed in His name. However, Jesus’ response to these people is most striking and unexpected. Verse 24 states, “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” This verse leaves its readers asking, what did these people do or not do to warrant such a response from Jesus?
Remember that the primary reason for Christ’s dyeing on the cross was to pay the penalty of our sin so that we may be reconciled to God the Father. 2nd Corinthians 5:19 states that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, thus not counting people’s sins against them. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God provided a way to restore us to fellowship and relationship with Him, just as it was before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Our salvation is thus a matter of the heart and not merely an outward display, because it involves responding to God’s love and walking with Him in relationship. Just like any other relationship, our hearts and not merely our lips, must be set on God in love.
Lost and bound in sin, God with great compassion and love came looking for us. He initiated the search, not us. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me but I chose you …” whereas 1st John 4:19 states, “We love because he first loved us.” To receive Christ and to believe in His Name is to respond to that love and allow God to restore us to His family, just like the Father of the prodigal son did when his lost son returned home. To grow in the love relationship is the next aspect of our salvation. Growth in our relationship with God is mutual and not one way: we draw nigh to God and He draws nigh to us (James 4:8). We entrust our hearts to God and He entrusts His to us! The more we hunger for Him, the more He fills us. The more we spend time with Him, the more we know Him and the more we become like Him. As we relate with Him, there is a divine exchange that causes us to become one with God.
Verse 24 of John chapter 2 expressly states that many people, upon seeing the miraculous signs performed by Jesus, believed in His name. This means that these people at least recognized who Jesus was and believed in Him, but that is as far as it went. Unlike in the case of the disciples whereby Jesus entrusted Himself to them by revealing Himself and the secrets of the kingdom, Jesus did not entrust Himself nor the secrets of the Kingdom to the converts in Jerusalem. Perhaps this people when viewed by physical eyes looked trustworthy, but through the eyes of the Spirit, they had a different testimony. Verse 25 states, “He [Jesus] did not need man’s testimony about man for he knew what was in a man.” It is clear that Jesus found their hearts wanting, despite their belief in Him.
In Capernaum, Jesus exhibited a similar response of restraint to the crowd that followed Him from Galilee (John 6:26-27). These people were part of the five thousand that had earlier been fed by Jesus (John 6:1-15) and had followed Jesus across the lake to Capernaum. Humanly speaking, it is expected that this incidence should have excited Jesus, but it did not. Instead, Jesus rebuked them saying, “… you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. ….” Despite their sacrifice to cross the lake and pursue Jesus, their motive was wrong for they sought God’s material blessings rather than seeking Him in Whom all is found.
However, in a town called Sychar in Samaria (John 4:39-42), Jesus' response to those who believed in Him was different as compared to His response to those who believed in Him in Jerusalem and Capernaum. Upon the Samaritans believing in Jesus, they urged Him to stay with them and Jesus obliged to their request. He stayed with them for two days, teaching them the Word of God. What was different about these Samaritans that Jesus seemed to take time to teach them God’s Word? Verse 41-42 states, “… because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman [Samaritan woman whom Jesus had met at the well], ‘We no longer believe because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’”
John 14:21, 23 and 24 sheds more light on Jesus’ varied responses to the people who believed in His name. It states, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. …. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. ….” From this scripture, it is clear that Christ shows Himself to those who love Him. Those who love Him are they that obey His commands and keep His teachings. The Father loves those who love Christ, the evidence of their love being that they obey Christ’s commands and teachings. Consequently, the Father finds delight in making a home with them! John 15:14-15 states, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
The true test of our love for God is obedience to His commands and teachings. 1st John 5:3 states, “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” Obedience, whether in favorable or unfavorable circumstances, reveals the depths of our love for God. No wonder God emphatically and repeatedly states in scripture that He desires obedience over sacrifice (Psalms 51:16-17; Isaiah 1:11; Hosea 6:6).
To have God ‘make a home with me’ means God inhabiting all aspects of my life, such that both of us know each other intimately. It is having God call me a friend, because I have allowed Him to come into my life and access all aspects of it, even the most secret. Wait a minute! God is not a re-known world leader; not at all. He is
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Isn’t it amazing that the Lord
God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth chooses to come to those who
love Him and make a home with them.It is evident in scripture that God entrusted Himself to Jesus, and we can most definitely learn lessons from this. John 4:35 states, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.” Also, John 5:20 states, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” In both scriptures, the aspect of the Father loving the Son is mentioned. It is on the basis of a love relationship that the Father entrusts all things to the Son.
This love was evidenced by Christ’s obedience to the Father as stated in John 5:19, “… the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” This scripture is not to mean that Jesus lacked capacity to do anything but rather, He well understood that only that which is done in line with the Father’s will is worthwhile and fruitful. Jesus knew that God’s commands lead to eternal life, and thus chose neither to speak nor do of His own accord (John 12:49-50). Barnes commentary indicates that there was such intimate union such that the Son could do nothing without the concurrence of the Father.
Jesus does discern the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12); nothing is hidden before Him; everything is uncovered and laid before His eyes (Hebrews 4:13). Who we really are may be concealed from men, but never hidden before God. We can thus fake our relationship with God to impress men, but can never cheat God. Christ knows those who are His (John 10:14) for He is the Great Shepherd. God desires our inward transformation, that we may love Him with all of our hearts, souls and minds. I pray that you and I may experience a circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, such that our praise shall be from God and not merely from men (Romans 2:28-29).
A pertinent question that you must often ask is how is the state of your heart? Is it in intimate union with Him? Is it submitted to His Lordship and yielded to His guidance? Is your love for God burning aflame or has it been sniffed out by the cares and worries of this life? Is your heart in such a state that God can to entrust Himself to you?
Today, God stands at the door of our hearts and knocks. He wants us to open up the door that He may come in and dine with us, and we with Him (Revelation 3:20). He desires to make a home with us. Please note that the appeal in Revelation 3:20 was not made to non-believers but to the Church in Laodicea, which suffered from being lukewarm. They were highly distracted and deceived by their wealth; perhaps it gave them a sense of self-sufficiency. Yet God saw them as wretched, poor, blind and naked (Revelation 3:17-18). Yet God’s unconditional love continued to reach out to them, urging them to open up the doors of their hearts that He may come in.
The Church of the 21st Century is perhaps the most comfortable and wealthy in church history. Could we be living in the deception of the Laodicean Church? God is today speaking to believers and urging them to open the doors of their hearts in reverent submission, and allow Him to make a home with us. In so doing, we shall know Him and grow deeply in love with Him; He too shall know us and entrust Himself and the secrets of the Kingdom to us. For the Lord confides in those who fear Him, and He makes His covenant known to them (Psalms 25:14).
