Crushed by Love

By Tony Ojoibukun

When the first thought of such a crushing came to me, I roundly rebuked it. After all, Jesus already took it all away and afflictions shall not arise a second time! I cannot be another Jesus. By the sacrifice of Jesus, love has lifted me! How then could I ever fathom this same love crushing me? No, as far as I was concerned, God should be looking toward the other side when it comes to crushing: the enemies and adversaries of me, His beloved son, should be the ones to be crushed.

The comfort of the Holy Spirit in bringing to my mind Scriptures like, "As He [Jesus] was on earth, so are we," was discarded because that only applies when I am manifesting in His majesty and power and divine authority. Paul's desire that he might know Him and the fellowship of His suffering, to me is peculiar to Paul because he was specifically told he will suffer great things for Jesus.

But love would have His perfect course as He did with Jesus. He would not stop at the crowning with thorns, would not stop at the tearing whips on His back, would not stop at the jeering noises of those stripping His clothes and stripping Him of justice, would not stop at the carrying of the cross and crashing under its weight, would not stop until the nails have been driven into His hands and feet and the side had been speared and He has totally surrendered His spirit, "It is finished."

Love so amazing takes a deeper meaning when that divine love takes you through a crushing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885403115

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Crushed by Love

Tony Ojoibukun

ISBN 979-8-88540-310-8 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88540-311-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Tony Ojoibukun

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface: Of the Stock of Jesus

Introduction: A Missive Long Overdue

Love Lifted Me!

Jacob's Struggles

The Legacy of Miriam

Chances and Choices

How Righteous Is Your Righteous Indignation?

The Encounter at Acton

The Curse Causeless Shall Not Come

The Accuser Silenced for Good

Come Up Higher

Called to Be a Minister of Life

Quench Not the Spirit

The Covenant Annulled, the Agreement Shattered

The Fullness of Time

This Is My Body Broken for You

The Faith of Jesus

The Eternal Priesthood

About the Author

To all those who partake of the sufferings of Christ and to those who bear with patience the chastening of the Lord.

The love of God

is a flame:

His devotion is never a half-measure.

—Tony Ojoibukun, 2021

Preface: Of the Stock of Jesus

Of the Stock of Jesus

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10–12)

When Paul the Apostle wrote to the Ephesians, beginning his letter with Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, the believers of his days could reckon with that statement. For only the will of God could have made Saul of Tarsus an apostle! But the full extent of that will should make for great fun in heaven when we know all things.

Be that as it may, one aspect of that will that can never cease to amaze me is God picking a hell-bent die-hard persecutor of His own church and from the very first few days of his conversion, God had specified in Acts 9:15–16 that Saul of Tarsus was chosen to suffer great things for the sake of the name of Jesus:

But the Lord said unto him (Ananias), Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Simply put, the process of Paul's apostleship was to get him into all kinds of troubles and tribulations, persecutions and afflictions that will be difficult for any other to go through in proclaiming the name of Jesus! Why? Because as Saul of Tarsus, he knew and understood the pains of such a process when he was on the giving side. And later on, as Paul the Apostle, he would understand persecutors and tormentors and hence endure them now that he is on the receiving side.

Truly, the mission to the heathens was laden with many great sorrows, for the heathens were more cruel and adamant than the chosen ones of God who were just blind in refusing Jesus then: these ones already had their own gods which were to be traded for the Son of God, the living God. If you want a proof, see Paul's summary of some of the things he went through in their hands in 2 Corinthians 11:23–33—beatings, stoning, robbing, betrayals, denying of sleep, food, and clothing and many others.

Little wonder Paul himself in that understanding wrote in Galatians 1:14–16 that God had settled it all, even before he was given to his mother at birth:

And (I) profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

As a weak earthling, Paul wanted to know why suffering should be part of His service. After all, if all power in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus and His will is being pursued in an assignment, should it not all just be smooth sailing? While God rules in the affairs of men and to Him belong the fullness of the earth and the men who dwell in it, yet He does not make men pawns on one divine chessboard. He has created man with a will; and while each man exercises his will, which without Jesus such will tends always to evil and wickedness, God also prepares His chosen people to meet men exactly where they are.

Such is the lot of every follower of Christ (Christian) that wherever God needs us, He prepares us to face the hellish situations and dire circumstances that men could muster. Every believer is of the stock of Jesus who Himself was fully aware of the mold cast for the Messiah and yet made Himself available all the same to fulfill the will of His Father. All the four writers of the gospels made it clear that the disciples received teachings from Jesus about suffering, albeit reluctantly, as we find Peter rebuking Him and Judas choosing another way when he saw no more hope for his moneymaking through Him. Luke recorded this for us in Luke 9:22–23,

(Jesus) Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The pleasure and comfort for the believer is in knowing that the end of glory had been determined already even before the process commences. Jesus, the king of glory, unto whom all things have been given and who is in control of all things, was perfected through His sufferings, and He thereby is able to bring every child of God on earth unto glory too. This is the testimony of the Scriptures in Hebrews 2:10.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

So when Isaiah prophesied in the tenth verse of chapter 53 of the sufferings of the Christ, his choice of words was mind-boggling. Yet it was the Lord's will [pleasure] to crush him and to afflict him. Until the whole process played out, it was difficult to conceive that the good God, the Holy One, who does according to His good will could manifest that good will in crushing and afflicting, taking pleasure in wounding, piercing, and crushing? A sadist would readily fit into that description! Yet Jesus was crushed by divine love for the love of Jesus Himself and for the love of us all.

God took Jesus through the crushing to make Him the author of salvation to God's precious creatures made in His image and likeness and to make Him Jesus, the head and Lord of all. Jesus has been given a kingdom that will never end, and in His name, every knee in heaven and on earth and underneath the earth will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

God has taken me through this crushing, and I am becoming His seed (after the stock of the original, Jesus). The mystery of it all lies in the blessings that God has also set in that mold. So that the Son (or son) of God might enter fully into those blessings, God prepares him for the sufferings encoded in the mold. This kind of package is hard to teach to a world that desires pleasure and comfort, but the true seed of the stock of Jesus receives the teaching nonetheless in the things that God takes him through.

This book is written to sharpen your alert signals when you begin to perceive some crushing and to encourage you, indeed assure you, that the glory at the end of it all is well worth it. The glory of that prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 53 includes the blessings of prolonging of your days and the pleasure of the Lord prospering in your hands. Hallelujah!

God calls you His righteous servant, and when you make the soul of Jesus an offering for sin, God recognizes you as of the seed of Jesus, the One who poured out His soul unto death and is now seated at the right hand of God interceding for transgressors, and thus God will be satisfied with your offering and will justify the ones for whose sins you stand in intercession. Besides, God will divide you (as Jesus's seed) a portion with the great, and God shall divide you the spoil with the strong.

Indeed, the will of God is always a mystery. He has determined it, and the way He brings it to pass can only be understood mostly when it's all played out. Paul commented about this pleasure of God's will in Ephesians 1:9–12,

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will:

That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

So for those who are in God's will to be fashioned after the stock of Jesus, you are square on the potter's wheel, and the mystery of your life will soon be revealed in all the glory God has purposed for you.

Introduction: A Missive Long Overdue

A Missive Long Overdue

If You did chasten me as a Father would a son (and not as an afflicter whose purpose is to destroy), that I might receive of You that good land, here am I to bless You for your love in doing me good by the chastening (Deuteronomy 8:3–10, 16).

If You took me through the wilderness experience to humble me that my heart might attain unto perfection and no longer be a rebel to your ways, so that You might without fail bring me to partake of your abundant goodness, I bless You for Your love in taking me through that wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:2–3).

If You crushed me to translate a wild, filthy thing into a thing of delight unto You so that You might put on display my beautiful parts and make Your light to shine brilliantly in me, then I bless You, the Father of lights, for perfecting the light in me through the painful process.

If You crushed me so that my life might be positioned and realigned to receive every good and perfect gift from above, then I bless You for Your excellent work in breaking me and packaging me for the great gifts.

If You crushed me so You might find me worthy of walking with You unceasingly and abiding forever in Your holy place, then I bless You for not allowing Your heart to grieve for me when I was in tears of afflictions.

Now that I see that You have made up Your mind long ago that I will not be nameless or ordinary, nor will I be a shameful or useless vessel to You, I do declare that You have been true and faithful and just and holy to fashion in me the pure vessel fitting for Your glory, one You can stake Your name on.

I love You, Lord, for crushing me in love.

Chapter 1

Love Lifted Me!

It was one of the first gospel songs that I learnt when I became born again. The presentation of love as God Himself was novel to me and filled my hollow mind. The