Joseph’s Alabaster Box

Pontius Pilate, the petty potentate of Judea should have known what a man Jesus was. He had just a few minutes before watched Jesus stand silently while his soldiers abused Him, and beat Him nearly to death. Strange, they couldn’t break His bones. The brutal soldiers had tried to kill Jesus, but they failed even to make Him waver. The marble floor of Pilate’s judgment hall was splattered with blood, and bits of Jesus’ flesh. Jesus walked out of the judgment hall, and stood straight as He gazed down on the maniacal mob who demanded His life. They could have had Him as their King, even then, but they were mad with religion. In rejecting Him as king, they made Him the Saviour of the world. Pilate.

“… he drove them all out of the temple, …” How many were there? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? He drove them all out along with their sheep and oxen. Where were the temple guards? Where were the scribes and Pharisees? Hiding under the pews? Were noses bloodied: eyes blacked; backs striped? These men who had no respect for God’s house, had respect for God’s muscles. Jesus wasn’t called “the Son of Man” for nothing. Who leads the Lord’s army? Jesus was indeed the absolute Man, but not only for these two reasons. Jesus, took little children up on His lap, and blessed them. Can we believe He did not laugh with them as He blessed them? A strong man it takes to notice little children, and bless them with attention, and smiles of approval. Jesus had compassion on people. He couldn’t stand to see folks hungry.

“(For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (I Timothy 2:5). Jesus was a disciplined individual. When the tempter came, he was weak and on the verge of starvation. He was dizzy; His stomach was bloated and painful. His entire being pleaded for nourishment. Bread, hot and fragrant, would give Him instant relief. Satan told Him all this. But Jesus had a discipline and self-control that made Him rise above self, and remember His responsibilities. There was nothing wrong with bread, but it was wrong to yield to the temptations of Satan.

Consider the America male. Enter a box that presents pictures and sound. It draws his attention away from his family. The man tells himself he deserves this. He’s free to do as he wishes. He is attached to it while his little children go to bed. When they’re older he buys them their own tv’s and computers. There is no prayer for them. No Bible stories. His wife goes to bed cold and alone. He watches moving image that cause him to lust. He’s told to “grab the gusto,” and he does. He’s told how good hamburgers are, and he eats too many. He sees people beating each other senseless, and he thinks they are real men. He sees tatooed bodies, and thinks they will make him more a man. He has to his own skin. Satan tells him he should watch ball games on Sunday. He agrees, and lays in a supply of chips and Buddumber as the tv commands. He becomes detached from his family. They develope life styles that turn into living hells, and then they go to hell. He doesn’t notice. He gets fatter and fatter. His belly falls down over his genitalia, and even “Viagre” doesn’t help. He decides he needs more pizza and beer.

It isn’t long until he has to take tablets to make love to his wife. Then he finds another woman because he blames his wife for his impotency. The harlot tells him all about how bad his wife is, and he agrees. His wife is not as attractive as she once was. Fox news tells him that all women should be gorgeous and witty. He becomes unable to deny himself any pleasure. He loses his self-respect and control, and goes out in public wearing sissy short pants with his hairy legs exposed to the gaze of little children who learn that a man is just an animal, after all. A pair of flip flops, and a cap on backwards makes him look even less manly. The tv has told him that an unshaven face is cool and sexy. The most primitive savage on the earth would hold him in contempt.

Incidentally, let me inject something here that I think I have written on this page before. Just what is nakedness?

For anybody who is interested, God has made it plain what it is. Go back to Exodus 20:26, and read; “Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” God is instructing the priests as to how they must dress to appear before him.

They are to wear long robes down to their ankles. Just look at any picture of an ancient Israelite, and you’ll see. Now get the picture: a priest goes up steps to the altar. When he gets to the top step, look down at his feet. How much of him can you see. His ankles, his calves? God says that is nakedness. Does the verse say that to you? Does it matter what a 3500 year old book says? Notice two things: God is immutable (unchanable), and His Word is immutable. Society changes – God doesn’t. My conclusion (and yours?): America is a land of nakedness. Read on.

Conclusion: we’re only savages or animals because savages and animals go naked. There are a few problems with those conclusions. First of all, savages do not have access to clothing as we do. Secondly, hopefully we have risen above savages. At least our ancestors had. As for the animals, their gracious Creator provided them with covering. Hide, hair, fur, feathers, scales, shell. He even painted these coverings to make them more beautiful and protective. But man, with his thin skin, He left naked: exposed to the elements and sharp points. God evidently wanted to clothe him, not in fig leaves, but skins. Skins of righteousness. The natural man (and even most Saints.) want to do nothing God wants him to do. If we were honest, we would print “If God wants it – I don’t” on our coins instead of “In God we trust.”

The American male has created a nation that’s being governed by unam (unAmerican) fools. Men have lost their manly discipline, and reduced themselves to a state of disrespect that has wrecked the country. Not until men have gained their sefl-respect will the nation began to recover. (Don’t hold your breath.) Until men have sense enough to recognize the best Man Who ever lived as their ideal, we will languish in a stupor of stupidity.

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