No You Won't

“He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” (Mt 27:42 AV)

Highly unlikely.  Jesus rose from the dead and Israel still refused to believe.  These are how ultimatums tend to work.  When we try to make a deal with God, generally, we do not keep it.  Gideon did the same thing.  He asked that God form dew on the fleece and not on the ground.  Then he doubled down and asked that it be reversed.  At least Gideon had the sense that no matter what impossibility he could come up with, God would overcome it.  Gideon eventually trusted.  But he threw out the fleece, so to speak, as a pattern of life.  If we will not believe God enough to follow him without a miracle beforehand, chances are we won’t afterward, either.  It is not a matter of faith.  It is a matter of submission.

How many times have we made confession when the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry was overwhelming, only to go back on it once the pressure abated?  How many times did God chasten us and we made confession?  We expected the chastisement to conclude and promised to forsake that which brought about the chastisement.  Once God was through, and we got back into our pattern, sin returned.  We can fault the people above for being lost and insincere.  Insincerity does not reside strictly with the lost.  God’s people can be insincere as well.  When we are, it is worse.  We know better.  We use the LORD to gain a more navigable life.  We want blessings and ease of pilgrimage.  When the LORD answers, we forget the pledges we make.  We go to an altar and pour out our sins with tears abounding.  Yet, when peace comes to our hearts, sin does, too.  This is what we are.  This is who we are.

The people involved above were mocking.  They had no intention of believing in the LORD as their Messiah.  It wouldn’t matter if He came off the cross and sat there, completely whole.  They wanted a God who would do what they wanted Him to do.  They wanted a conquering Messiah who would end Rome’s rule and set up the kingdom promised to Abraham and David.  They wanted Him to do so with no risk or sacrifice on their part.  They wanted a God who acted like Egypt and not the God of the Bible.  Their statement was a mocking one because they required of God something He would refuse to do.  He will not jump through a hoop for them.  He will not debase His majesty to tickle their ears.  He is not going to humble the majesty of His glory by jumping when they said jump.  God is not going to do it.  Besides, if He came down from the cross, what would He have to do next?  And then again.  And then again.  Mankind needs to stop trying to make deals with God and start submitting to His will.