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Father, Forgive [me and] them, for They Know Not what they do; Splagchnon |Blog #5|

Updated: May 31, 2021


A few hours ago I dreamt. In this dream I recognized my Brother and apparently an older Asian woman which seemed to be my mother. As she was preparing her traditional sushi nigiri,🍣, I saw it took her hours of toil to produce it. I was thinking that she really loved my Brother to do all that preparation. Carefully slicing the fish, cooking the rice, decorating even the most minute details... Finally when all was prepared, my Brother came in. He stormed in the room, and looked at the food. "What is this?!?" He said in a rage. He took the platter and threw it to the ground... In a shock, đŸ˜±, the woman cried and cried. Startled at all her effort wasted. My Brother kept on getting angrier. Maybe he had a bad day. I don't really know. Yet in that dream I remembered I started to pick up the pieces one-by-one:

Placing it in the container again... Normally I would get angry or maybe throw the sushi at my Brother's face for being a jerk, but in this instance I just cried...😭. I said to the woman, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I am very very sorry at what he did to you..." I knew that it wasn't my responsibility or that I was wrong. Yet I felt the guilt of the situation. My heart dropped when I saw the woman crying. 😔. She wanted to give the best to her son. Yet the son rejected the blessing and hated her.... We both cried 😭 and cried 😭 and suddenly the dream abruptly ended.

 

Waking up, I was confused and still crying. I quickly prayed to ask the Lord what this all meant. At first I thought I was living a Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness reference (to all the Marvel Fans out there, hehe 😬). Yet the Holy Spirit reminded me that this dreamt symbolized Jesus at the Cross. He was the blameless lamb, He came to save and give His people the best "sushi" off eternal life by trusting in Him. Yet He was crucified, humiliated, and scorned at the Cross. There was this scene that Jesus had where said:

And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments. Luke 23:34 😭😰😔

I finally realized the weight of Jesus' words... why did Jesus ask for forgiveness? Because the more I learn about the Bible the more I realize how God's wrath is real. Please note that God is NOT ONLY LOVE as some Christians would emphasize. He is a avenging and wrathful God:

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Nahum 1:2-5 đŸ˜ đŸ‘Šâš”ïž

This is one example of an oracle concerning Nineveh written by Nahum. In it God's wrath is shown towards the wickedness of the city. Where it was lawless, countless whorings, a bloody city, full of lies, corpses and pure evil. In that state, the Lord's wrath broke through in which He said:

Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. Nahum 1:6 đŸ”„đŸ˜ĄđŸ”„

Our God is a God of wrath and vengeance đŸ”„. He will not allow evil to reign or overstep their boundaries. As John McArthur would say:

We have lost the reality of God's wrath. We have disregarded His hatred for sin. Can you imagine, how angry the Lord must have felt? 😡. Having His one and only Son too be crucified? Jesus was blameless, pure, and loved us so much to tell us the truth. But He was humiliated, ridiculed, and hated... The more I read about the Bible the more I see how God's sovereignty and fairness truly shines. When Jesus said, "Father, forgive them", I felt that. đŸ„ș. I was one off those Pharisees, soldier, crowd, even the person crucified next to Jesus who reviled and hated my Lord. I was like this "Brother" in my dream who stomped and rejected the blessing...


I believe Jesus might have known that it was so easy for the Father to destroy the world. To unleash His wrath as He did before in the history of Israel. Yet Jesus pleaded...


not because He was powerless, but because His great power is being able to forgive us...wow.


By our Lord's mercy we were spared. He forgave us. And that is much more difficult. Imagine someone hitting your face, destroying everything you loved? And now imagine that infinity times worse. Jesus faced unmeasurable pain, and He willingly took our judgment and sins.


If the roles today were reversed would you die for someone who hated you?... That mercy and grace is something I will never understand. Why does a great, powerful, wrathful God be able to forgive a unworthy sinner such as me? To mold and restore a worthless clay? A paradox I humbly am grateful for. As in my dream, I started to cry at all the injustice. I started to cry at how through all this evil and injustice— I instinctively picked up the leftover dropped sushi not in revenge but in hope. That my Brother's heart may be redeemed once more. Just as my hardened heart was touched by Christ and His grace, I know now that it is only by His compassion am I able to forgive all the hurt off this world.

The word 'compassion' is a word that I have always longed and admired for. In my readings off the Bible, Jesus often had compassion. In two instances he had compassion for the widow's son, and the crowd as Jesus fed the Four Thousand. The word compassion in these verses comes from the Greek word splagchnon that means the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, etc.), the emotions. When Jesus saw the weak, the helpless, He didn't get annoyed or ignored them. His heart longed for them. From the inner depths of His being and emotions— He had a deep compassion, ❀, a sympathy to pity those less fortunate. A compassion to emphatically understand and share the pain off others....

 

Reflection

Dear Lord, thank You. For this haphazardly random yet blissfully amazing revelation. đŸ€—.

As You once revealed:

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29 đŸ“–đŸ§đŸš¶â€â™‚ïž

I will never truly understand fully the Bible nor Your wondrous revelations, because You are my Lord and You know what's best for me and when... Yet when You do reveal Your Word, I will quickly keep it and praise You my Lord and thank You that I may step in faith. Thank You for today's grand revelation that I may cherish...


To think that You can remind me through sushi,🍣, haha.😬. O Lord first and foremost please forgive me 😟 for being that person who threw away Your ever precious grace. By all means You could have uphold Your wrath and burned me to a crisp. My many sins deserve judgment and death. Yet only through Jesus who died on the Cross and resurrected am I still alive today literally and metaphorically. . .Thank You O Lord for Your forgiveness. As I live out my life today, I see so many social injustices all around. Help me in my time off need,.. when I do face persecution, trials, and even injustices. To be fervent in prayer. Patient in tribulation. Just as my Lord Christ did first. As the world hated Him, they too shall hate us. Yet Lord, I beg and plead... please have mercy on us all! 😭🙏😔
 At all those who are oblivious and ignorant to Your grace. Who revile and hated Your blessings, just as I once did as well. Please Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Who persecute Your elect, who live a debauchery life... yet Lord also please forgive me, for I know not what I do as well and still sin. Help us all... As I go through day by day, help me to forgive, to have splagchnon just as Christ did...đŸ„ș

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 đŸ˜‡đŸ€—â€ïž

Thank You Jesus for mending my heart and teaching me compassion day by day... In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.



Updated on:

March 26, 2021


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