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Transcript/ notes from Session 1, “Jesus, Our Bondservant”

Introduction

Welcome to, “Jesus, Our Bondservant.” My focus in this teaching will be the love commitment Jesus has made to us by binding Himself to our humanity through union with us.  He’s the God-Man.   It required eternal servitude.  He has chosen eternal servitude to us because of our preciousness to Him. 

The unconditional Love He has for us is called agapaō in Greek, The Wuest, definition: “a love called out of Jesus’s heart by a our preciousness to Him, a devotional love that impelled Him to sacrifice Himself for us.”

In Mark 10, Jesus said of Himself,

Mark 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

When Jesus said that, He and His disciples were are on their way to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover – the picture of Himself, the Passover Lamb!

This would be Jesus’ final week before He was crucified. Of course, they don’t know this, but He did. And nothing is by coincidence. What was happening when He said that?

The context of Jesus’ statement was in response to a request from the brothers James and John. So let’s look at it in Mark 10. Jesus said, 

Mark 10:33-37 – “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; 34 and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” [He’s clearly telling them what is about to happen, but in Luke’s account we learn that the disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. The significance of His words was hidden from them. (Luke 18:43)] 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” [Later in this passage, Jesus will repeat that same exact question to another person. It’s the only two times He asked that exact same question – and both in the same passage. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence. And we can learn from the comparisons. So James and John asked Him – ] 37 They said to Him, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” 

This request may seem strange, but it makes more sense when you look at Matthew’s account, and you see what Jesus said right before He predicted His death. He said that those who followed Him would sit on thrones along with Him, but He was referring to after His second coming and the millennial reign. (Matthew 19:28) They thought He was going to immediately be an earthly king. 

Mark 10:38-46 – But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; [What does this mean? He’s not talking about the cup of salvation. He’s talking about the cup of persecution. James would be the first martyr of the original 12, and John would have to bear the grief of losing his brother, and then bear years of loneliness and exile on the island of Patmos until he would be the last of the apostles to die.] 40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.” [According to the Father’s will.] 41 And when the ten heard it, [the other disciples] they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. [Understandably, right? That’s just the way of the world. That’s all they knew. Jealousy and competition for the highest rank. They didn’t have the revelation of the kingdom of God] 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles [the world, the godless] lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. [And of course, He would set the example -] 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” [The revelation of the kingdom of God was hidden in that moment for His disciples, but would come with hindsight. Hindsight is 20/20. They couldn’t yet see in the Spirit, but one day they would. This is about spiritual eyesight and to begin to see who Jesus is and what He would accomplish for us. Next, we come to the other instance of Jesus asking he question: “What do you want Me to do for you?” It’s also a story of eyes opening – literally.] 46 Now [as they journeyed towards Jerusalem for the Passover] they came to Jericho. As He [Jesus] went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.

Bartimaeus actually means “son of Timaeus.” “Bar” in Aramaic means “son of.” Timaeus is an interesting name. It’s possible that it’s derived from a Greek word meaning “highly prized.” But its Aramaic root is a word that means “impure, unclean, polluted.”

I found several sets of antonyms to describe the possible meaning of the name Bartimaeus.

• Was he a “son of an honored one” or a “son of an impure one”?
• Was he a “son of fame” or a “son of shame”?
• Was he a “son of treasure” or a “son of trash”? 

Maybe the answer is how Bartimaeus was seen. How did the people see him? They saw him as a poor, blind beggar. sitting on the side of the road. A nuisance. Not valuable at all. But how did Jesus see him? We’ll see.

Jesus of Nazareth

Mark 10:47 – And when he [Bartimaeus] heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, [In Luke’s account, (ch 18) it says that Bartimaeus heard the ruckus and wanted to know what it was about. The people around him told him that “Jesus of Nazareth” was passing by. That’s how THEY identified Him. But that’s not how HE addressed Jesus.] he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, [a high honor, son of the king] have mercy on me!”

He would have been speaking Hebrew using the word “ ,” whose Greek counterpart is “charis” – grace. “Jesus, Son of David, be gracious to me, show Your kindness to me!” The root of “ḥānan” is a Hebrew word that means to bend down or stoop down and to show kindness to an inferior.

Bartimaeus who is sitting by the road is literally and figuratively reaching up to Jesus for His grace, knowing that Jesus is superior to him. That’s his perception of Jesus. “Have mercy on me, Jesus!”

But that wasn’t the perception the other people held of Jesus. “Jesus, of Nazareth was more of a derogatory taunt. It wasn’t an honorific title.

Nazareth was considered “sin city!” Anyone from Nazareth was considered a low-life – most of the time a Gentile – despised and condemned by Israel. 

Do you remember what Nathanael said to Philip when Philip told him they had found the One whom Moses and the prophets had spoken about – “Jesus of Nazareth!”? Nathanael responded – 

John 1:46-47 – “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” [Like the woman at the well – “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could He be the Messiah?!”] 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, [Jesus saw him first. That’s always the case. He knows us before we know Him! Before the foundation of the world, He chose us!] and [Jesus] said of him, [Nathanael] “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

This was a true statement that cut to Nathanael’s heart. What Jesus revealed about the woman at the well was her sin (and He loved her anyway), but what Jesus revealed about Nathanael was his character. There are times that Jesus has spoken to me, and it has pierced my heart because He has spoken something true about me – a compliment – and it has me weeping. We might respond, “Oh, I don’t deserve it. But He’s speaking the truth about who you are. And I believe that’s what happened here because – 

John 1:48-49 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Go back and listen to Cultivate, session 5 and 6 to hear more about that. But this is another occasion of an awakening to Jesus. When you know that Jesus knows everything about you, and has been with you all along, you can’t help but know you’re loved!

Do you remember Pontius Pilate ordered that the words “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” be put on a sign in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin above Jesus’ head on the cross to mock Him?

But what Pilate didn’t know is that this sign confirmed Bible prophecy. The first letters of the Hebrew words on that sign were an acronym for YHVH! The unpronounceable name of God! Too holy to utter! Jehovah, the Great I AM! Yahweh!

Reading from right to left:

• Y (yud) – Jeshua – Jesus
• H (hei) – Hanozri – of Nazareth
• V (Vav) – Vumelech – King
• H (hei) – Haiehudim – of the Jews

• Yud – open hand (5 fingers out)
• Hei – grace (window, revelation of grace)
• fav – nail (vav is like a conjunction. It’s a connecting word. A nail connects)
• Hei – grace (window, revelation of grace)

God’s name, YHWH, is “Open hand of grace, nail in grace.” Who is that talking about? Jesus! It’s a picture of the cross. 

Back to Mark 10 – 

Mark 10:48-51 – Then many warned him [Bartimaeus] to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [ḥānan – be gracious to me!] 49 So Jesus stood still [just like He stopped with that woman with the issue of blood on His way to raise the dead girl to life. He is on His way to give His own life and He stops.] and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

There’s that question again! Think of the difference between Bartimaeus and James and John. This poor blind beggar had no credentials. He wasn’t like James and John who were in Jesus’ inner circle, who along with Peter, had the privilege of witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, they got to go in with Jesus when He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, they would soon be hand chosen to be with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They were special. They felt comfortable asking Jesus to give them the highest honor – to be seated next to Him on His throne. But this blind man was a nobody! I think this man had a clearer view of Jesus than maybe those in His inner circle did. Jesus came to serve, not to be served. So Jesus asked him the same question: “What do you want Me to do for you?” And his answer, in my opinion, is the most valuable thing any of us can ask of Jesus in the spiritual sense.

Mark 10:51-52 – The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

To Jesus Bartimaeus wasn’t a “son of trash;” he was a “son of treasure.” And the first face Bartimaeus saw was the face of Jesus, the mirror of who God created him to be – Highly prized, priceless.

Reading this the other day made me reflect on my own experience of receiving my sight – when Jesus unveiled Himself to me and how it changed the way I saw not only myself, but others.

He opened my eyes to the way He sees me by opening my eyes to Himself! And to His grace! 

First, He showed me Himself on the cross, bearing my sin and shame. He showed me that His blood had washed away my sin. Then He showed me what that meant: who I am in Him. Then He showed me His face – His pleasure with me and His joy in loving me. He sees me and He loves what He sees. He sees beyond the flesh.

I had to see His love for me, then I could see myself properly. And then I had new vision for others.

Now that was quite an awakening! I was blind, and then I saw. 

2 Corinthians 5:16 – Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. [Spiritual eyesight. Bartimaeus wasn’t a poor blind beggar; he was a son of treasure.]

He came to serve by dying

So that’s the context of Jesus’s statement, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” And I pray that He will open our eyes to what it means. And that it won’t be hidden from any of us. 

He came to serve by dying. He’s the only Person who was born to die. And He chose to come, to put on human flesh so that He could be our Lamb of God. 

Hebrews 2:14, NLT – Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

In Mark 10, He was moving with His face towards Jerusalem to do the Father’s will. He came to serve. If He wanted to be served, He had the whole heavenly host of angels at His beck and call. He could have called for them to rescue Him.

But He didn’t come to be served. He came to set things right. In order to do that, He had to set aside all of the heaven’s glory. He had to be obedient to His Father and become the Roasted Lamb of the Passover.

The cost of His choice

I want to take a minute to go over a truth that I have shared many times so that perhaps the Holy Spirit will enlighten us more thoroughly to the cost of the cross, the cost of Jesus’s choice to stoop down to show us mercy and be gracious to us. and to bring us up to Him.

His immeasurable condescension is explained not only in terms of the heart (love and mercy), but also in legal terms in the scriptures. 

To set things right, to make us His perfect counterpart – His glorious bride without blemish, a new creation compatible with Him in nature and kind, able to enjoy the intimacy of eternal union with Him – it had to be done on a righteous foundation.

Mercy and love sent Jesus, but the cross demonstrates His justice, His righteousness.

God cannot just be just merciful; He had to also be righteous. What does that mean? Jesus had to pay for every sin that we have ever committed or will ever commit.

God demonstrates His own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) In other words, “while we were yet sinners” – He didn’t wait for you to love Him. He fully committed Himself to you whether You chose Him or not, whether you accepted Him and His love or rejected His grace.

But God demonstrates His justice in that Jesus took the blows, the punishment in our place. and if we choose to accept His forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice, we will be justified – just as if we’d never sinner. This is legal. Not legalistic. Legalistic is gray and you never know where you stand. Legal is black and white. You know where you stand!

Romans 3:26 – … to demonstrate at the present time [God demonstrates] His righteousness, [His justice] that He might be just [righteous – legal terms] and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Through Jesus, God is righteous in making the sinner righteous. God did not allow one single sin to slip by. Not one failure, not one weakness, not on little bad thought, not one bad day escaped the justice of God. Some people don’t like this kind of talk. They think it’s not grace. But you can’t have the resurrection without the cross. You can’t appreciate the grace unless you know the price that was paid for your sin. You must understand the cost! The less you understand about the cost, the more flippant you are going to be about the blessing in your life and the less grateful you are going to be. This topic doubles me over weeping! “Thank you for the cross, Lord Thank you for the price You paid, bearing all my sin and shame, in love You came, and gave amazing grace.”

All of your sins – past, present, and future – were dealt with at the cross. God has JUDGED the WORK of His Son as perfectly perfect and COMPLETELY complete. And before the get to the benefits of the cross, let’s start with the cost so that you know and you don’t have to doubt when you are receiving a benefit of the cross.

God’s very integrity and His word are at stake when He says He has made you righteous. If one sin was left unpunished, (…”the chastisement needful to obtain peace and wellbeing for us”…Isaiah 53) then God would not be just in calling you justified. He would be a liar.

The precious blood of Christ

If the new creation had even the slightest flaw, the cohesion, the glue that binds us to God would dissolve. If you have a mongrel religion of grace and law, you are never sure about this. But if it were true that this cohesion would break at the lightest sin in the flesh, we’re doomed. This is our spiritual reality: He has bound Himself to us. What is that glue? The blood of Jesus. The glue is the sacrifice. 

Ephesians 2:12-13, NLT – You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

If there was one blemish left, one tiny imperfection in the bride of Christ, the reason would be that His blood was imperfect and lacked the power to remove our sin. But this is an impossibility. Why?

1. Because Jesus had no sin when He came into the world – 1 John 3:5

1 John 3:5 – And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.

2. Because Jesus committed no sin when He was in the world – 1 Peter 2:22

1 Peter 2:22 – Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.

3. Because Jesus knew no sin – 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 – He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He was the only One in all of history who was qualified to be our substitute. to stand in our place, to be our Intercessor, to be our Mediator.

Hebrews 2:17, NLT – Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice [of Himself] that would take away the sins of the people.

The High Priest who represents us before God was Himself the only One in the universe qualified to also become the Lamb that would take away our sins forever. He’s also the Mercy Seat! Jesus is our all in all!

Hebrews 9:12 – Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own [precious] blood He [Jesus] entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

We have been redeemed – 

1 Peter 1:19 – ..with the precious blood of Christ, as [the blood] of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Jesus chose to step into our identity. God loved us so much that He sent His Son, His only Son, the Son that He loved for us, but Jesus loved us so much that He willingly obeyed! No one murdered Him.

In the Garden of Gethsemane when they came to arrest Him, Peter tried to stop them by pulling out his sword and chopping off the ear of one of the guards. Jesus rebuked him –

Matthew 26:53 – “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?”

Just a little while earlier – within the hour – 

Matthew 26:39 -“O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, [This word tells us – it was Jesus’s choice!]  not as I will, but as You will.” 

Even after He said that, and we know it was His choice to drink the cup, He said, ““Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” Every step of the way was His choice. 

Jesus chose to take the cup and drink it for our sakes. They said, “Come down from the cross. You can’t even save Yourself.” Oh yes, He could have! At any moment He could have come down. He allowed Himself to be bound, nailed to the cross, subjected to scourging, spitting, and persecution. 

John 10:17-18 – [Jesus said -] “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” [obedience]

He absorbed all of the righteous wrath and judgment against all sin until it was completely and utterly exhausted. Then He cried,

John 19:30 – It is finished!

God has forgiven you on a righteous foundation. From that foundation of righteousness flows  – the spigots are wide open – His eternal mercy and grace. The only thing that might clog the spigot is our own flesh, “I dont’ want that much grace. I don’t deserve it.” But God says – 

Hebrews 8:12 – “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

“A body You have prepared for Me”

This is much more than doctrine! This is relationship! Religion says God is counting your sins against you, and God is angry at you. But relationship says God loves you so much that He says, “Here, take My Son, My only Son to be your heavenly Husband. I have chosen YOU to be His bride!”

Sometimes we think of Gos as the mean judge, but no! He has chosen the likes of us to be the wife of His only begotten Son! 

His prenuptial agreement [the New Covenant] is a binding covenant – not one that says, “If you will be a good wife, I will never divorce you.” NO! It’s a covenant that says, “Even if you commit adultery, My redeeming love will wash away a multitude of sins! I will never divorce you. My vast and infinite inheritance is yours, and you will forever be called by My name!”

So this was the mission of Jesus, to redeem His bride. But He had to step into our world. He left heaven with the bride in His heart, but He had to come to earth to get her. He had to dwell with us, and identify with us. He had to become one of us!

Hebrews 10:5-10 – Therefore, when He [Jesus] came into the world, He said: “[Father,] Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, [why? Because those Old Covenant sacrifices couldn’t take away sins and left a barrier between God and His people! – ] But a body You have prepared for Me. [Jesus became the barrier so the barrier could be removed. He put on human flesh so that He could take our sin and become the sin offering. This was a covenant between Father and Son for His Bride. In the most stunning demonstration of utter humility, Jesus became a human being, born as a baby and placed in a manger. Jesus, the Son of God, became the Son of man so that the sons of men might become sons of God. Jesus took on human flesh. Why? Because as God He couldn’t die.] 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. [TPT – “Multiple burnt offerings and sin-offerings cannot satisfy your justice.”] 7 Then I [Jesus] said, [to the Father] ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’” 8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. [To take away the Old Covenant of law that says you are what you do, the sin remains, your nature is still sinner, you are not compatible with God, and there is nothing you can do in and of yourself to change that. And then He would usher in the New Covenant of Grace where there remains no separation! You can enter the holiest by the blood!] 10 By this will we have been sanctified [made holy, without blemish, and set apart unto God] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Do you see the quote in verses 5-7? That’s a direct quote from the Messianic Psalm 40 – 

Psalm 40:6-8 – “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. [In Hebrews 10, what does it say? “A body You have prepared for Me.” Remember that in a minute. Psalm 40 is a foreshadowing of the eternal servitude of Jesus to become a human being for us.] Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.” 7 Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God…”

Verse 6 says, “My ears You have opened…” This isn’t referring to hearing. Jesus wasn’t hard of hearing. It’s talking about something else. That word “opened” literally means “pierced.” That very Hebrew word is used in another Messianic Psalm about Jesus:

Psalm 22:1, 16 – My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?… 16 …The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet… [pierced is the same word as “opened”]

The law of the bondservant

So in Psalm 40 we can say, “My ears You have pierced…” This is a reference to the law of the bondservant in the Old Testament.

Directly after giving the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, God gave a law that depicted a beautiful foreshadowing of the choice that Jesus would make to lay down His life for us as our eternal husband and the eter nal bondservant to His Master.

Exodus 21:1-4 – “Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. [BUT] 4 If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he [the servant] shall go out by himself.

In the 7th year, he can go out and pay nothing. It’s a picture of the cross. Jesus wouldn’t have to got o the cross. But He would have to leave His wife and children behind. so if the master gave him the wife and the children, then when his time comes to be liberated, he would have to leave his family behind.

This thought occurred to me reading this: at a wedding, the preacher says, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” The Father gives the bride to the groom, right? Just like us, Jesus came into the world with nothing – but a mission. He didn’t come with His bride. He came to get His bride, and the Father has given Him a bride. We know the end of the story and that He didn’t go back without us, but He would have.

The first mention of love in the Bible is about the Father and the Son. The second mention of love in the Bible is about the Son’s love for the bride. In between is the Father’s unnamed Servant seeking the perfect bride for His Son.

What am I talking about. Genesis 22 and 24.

Genesis 22:2 – [God says to Abraham – ] “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” [first mention of love is about our heavenly Father sacrificing His only begotten Son.]

Abraham represents our heavenly Father. Isaac represents His Son, Jesus Christ. The unnamed Servant represents the Holy Spirit. Rebecca represents the bride of Christ.

In Genesis 24, the father, Abraham, tells the oldest servant his house, the executor and ruler over everything he had, to find a bride for his son, Isaac. 

Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis. It’s a picture of 2000 years that the the Holy Spirit has been seeking a bride for our Heavenly Isaac.

Genesis 24:67 – [In the last verse of Genesis 24 it says -] Then Isaac brought her [Rebekah – the wife given to him by his father] into his mother Sarah’s tent; [Sarah represents grace] and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. [second mention of love in the Bible.]

The name Rebekah means “to tie firmly” or “to secure.” I read that the name Rebekah reflects her role in the continuation of the Abrahamic lineage.

Back to Exodus 21 and the law of the bondservant – on the day of his liberation, “If his master has given him a wife, then the servant shall go out by himself” – if he wants to go free, he will have to leave his family behind.

Exodus 21:5-6 – But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master shall bring him to the judges. [for a formal, public ceremony to confirm that his decision was legally irrevocable – he would be a slave forever. The master -] He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, [the doorpost is the closest place to freedom – outside he would be free; inside he would still be a servant. So he had a choice to make – to stay with those he loved and remain a servant or to be set free. If he chose to stay – ] and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

And awl was a boring instrument – like a dowel with a pointed edge – that would be pierced though the servant’s ear at the doorpost. then the bondservant would put a gold ring in the hole in his ear, as a sign that he was a permanent slave by choice for the rest of his life.

How long does Jesus live? Forever! How long will He be our Husband? Forever! How long will He be the Bondservant to His Master? Forever! This condescension is forever.

To be our forever Husband, He must remain a servant. He has to eternally be a part of us, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the Mediator. He is the Son of God, and we are partakers of that divine nature, but we need to understand what this cost Him. the more we understand the cost, the more we are going to want for Him to get what He paid for.

His condescension was not just being born in a manger and dying on a cross. It wasn’t just the 33 years that He walked around in a body of flesh and blood. It is forever. He is the God-man forever. He binds us to God forever.

Hebrews 7:25 – Therefore He [God] is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him [Jesus], since He always lives to make intercession for them. 

He’s the go-between. Jesus has fastened Himself to us by becoming one of us! He has fastened us to Him by creating us anew and giving us His nature.

Philippians 2:6-8 – …[Jesus] who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, [NASB: “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped”] 7 but made Himself of no reputation, [a better word for “made” Himself is “stripped” or “emptied” Himself of His glory] taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. [Jesus didn’t just become a man – He came, not as a king, but as a lowly one of the multitudes – Jesus of Nazareth – and a bondservant to His Master.] 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

The Greek word for bondservant:  doulos – someone who had no personal freedom and was under the complete authority of their master. Someone who belongs to another without any ownership rights of their own. The root is deō – to bind, to fasten with chains, to throw into chains

“My ear You have pierced.” “A body You have prepared for Me.” “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” “This command I have received from My Father.” It’s obedience.

Romans 5:19 – by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Jesus’s obedience spoke volumes: “Father, I love You, and I love My wife, I love mankind, too much to go free. I came to serve and to give My life a ransom for many, and I am Your bondservant forever. I will be obedient to Your will. I will drink the cup of my bride’s shame and condemnation and guilt and sin and rebellion and adultery and sickness and disease, but worst of all and most of all, forsakenness.”

At the doorpost, He could have just walked out and never been pierced. He could have returned home without us, skipping the shame and forsakenness of the cross, but love compelled Him to stand at the doorpost and be nailed to that cross for us, to serve us so He could bring us home with Him across the threshold of heaven.

The kind of love that Jesus has for us is an unfathomable love that has no human comparison because of its sacrifice. We truly have only just begun to understand the cost of cross. We will spend eternity discovering the width and length and depth and height of this love that cost our Lord everything. 

But even though there is no perfect comparison, there is a picture God has given us: the picture of marriage. So I want to leave you with a little paragraph I wrote a couple of years ago in my prayer journal: 

From December 16, 2022 – Jesus, our forever Servant:

Until a few years ago, for my whole life my favorite part of a wedding was watching the bride walk down the aisle. I loved the anticipation of seeing her beautiful dress and veil, her hair and makeup, but especially the joy on her face that said, “This day is FINALLY here! I’ve never been so happy!” But for the last few years, my focus at weddings has changed. I have found myself as interested in the groom as in the bride. At the moment that the bride begins to walk down the aisle from the back of the sanctuary, my eyes go to the front instead of the back of the room. I find myself torn between watching the bride in all her glory, and the groom watching the bride in all her glory.  At Ben’s wedding, [one of our nephews] I found myself watching Ben more than Jenny. It was the same at Little Edward’s wedding. [another one of our nephews] Even at Frances’ wedding, [our own daughter] my eyes were as much on Michael as on Frances – and I’m so glad I didn’t miss those tears in Micheal’s eyes! And at Ann Claire’s wedding, it was the same. [another one of our daughters] Tyler gazing at Ann Claire with a heart overflowing with love. These days the love of the groom for the bride is what takes my breath away. Why is that? Because it reminds me of the love that Jesus has for us.

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• All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted. New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.  
• Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.  
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