Portrait And Inscription

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.  2 Timothy 2: 19.

Paul is holding out hope and faith in the same God who raised Jesus from the grave, by assuring us that God’s foundation is solid and it stands firm, unmovable and unshakable. This is so because it is all sealed with God’s inscription.

Let’s now to go to Mark 12: 16, where Jesus asks, Whose portrait is this and whose inscription? The Pharisees and Herodian sect, answer Jesus by saying that they belong to Caesar. These men of learning have been sent by the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders, with a trick question for Jesus, so that they can catch Him in His words.  The chief priests and others of their ilk, realize that nothing is forthcoming, so they are trying desperately hard to get Jesus to slip up. This time, they come with a secular question about Caesar and Jesus asks them to bring Him one of Caesar’s coins. Jesus is using something which belongs to King Caesar and him only. This coin is not even shared by another.

Here are sound, solid facts which I invite you to seriously consider.  

1.    The coin carries two sides – the head and the tail, the beginning and the end – for no matter how the coin is twisted and turned, it shows one true fact. The coin belongs to no other king, but Caesar.

2.    The coin carries a portrait and an inscription. The only portrait and inscription belong to Caesar. In other words, it does not carry Caesar’s portrait and another leader’s inscription. It does not occur in the reverse either. The coin belongs to no other king, but Caesar.

3.     The coin carries in it what is indelible. Caesar is the person who remains there, irremovable, as the coin is totally his. His portrait and inscription so seal it for Caesar, even if the coin were all covered in mud, grime and filth; even if it were totally painted over or marked up, so that it was unrecognizable, with deep cleaning, the portrait and inscription come to light again. The coin belongs to no other king, but Caesar.

It is with this understanding that we maintain faith and hope in God, our One Sovereign. It is with this knowledge that we return to the warning for us to desist and resist the ungodliness of our words and ways, which tell others lies about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.  

In self-searching, as revealed by the true and present Holy Spirit, I have asked myself whether or not I am continuing to be one whose life is telling fallacies concerning the Resurrection. What question or questions are you asking yourself?

Let’s be reminded of the fallacy or lie of Resurrection, against which we are being cautioned. We are holding to the fact that, as Paul has openly and plainly indicated, such misguiding comes from those, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Whether you and I are the ones telling this lie or we are the ones listening to it, it is like gangrene, that which has come to rot our faith and destroy it.

This lie about the Resurrection of Jesus, has already been dealt with by God our Sovereign, who has His coin, as it were. Do you, like me, hold the Sovereign Coin of God to be His Word, His Living, concrete, present with us, Word? Just as the coin of King Caesar, will you follow me in this? Will you hear what is being spoken to us? We come tomorrow, fresh and ready to receive.

Speak O Holy Sovereign, Spirit Divine that we may be fully convinced of Your infallible truth. Amen!