“Ye are of your father, the devil…”  (John 8)

“[I]f ye believe not that I [Am] he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8)

“…[G]o and tell that fox…”  (Lord Jesus calling Herod a fox in Luke 13)

“Ye have no power over [M]e…”  (Christ says to Pilate as our Lord stands dripping with Blood.)

 

The quoted passages above demonstrate our Lord provoking His enemies, He would also provoke and make fun out of His friends, if you will,  by telling them that they have “little faith,” or by calling Peter, “(s)atan. He also called Judas a devil in order to provoke him to action.

The Words above were spoken to cause controversy and provocation. Christ, at His illegal trials, would remain silent at times, this was to show that the puny humans were beneath Him and He would not bother to condescend to their lowly estate. This was provocation to their prideful flesh to do what God has ordained and elected them to do of their own precious free will, and then to suffer under God’s wrath for doing what God had ordained and elected them to do…Yes!!! They were punished and are being punished for doing God’s will.
My readers,
This is the Omnipotent God we serve and are to love. If you idealize God in any other way, you are committing idolatry. God is the Govenor, Director, Facilitator of all things and what all things do.
As written above, Christ would remain silent as certain reprobate persons were in His Company. [SIDENOTE: One must have a proper perspective here. As Daniel was not in the Lions den, but the lions were in Daniel’s den, so are the overflowing, pride filled, clowns and puppets in Christ’s court. Christ is not in man’s court or at man’s mercy….God forbid.] Christ would also speak words of provacation to His enemies, when He Confesses Himself to be God, and that those present are right where they should be, they will at a later date see Him descending from Heaven with all power, and great Glory. Christ, with silence and with words would provoke His enemies to fill up their cups of sin, which they will be made to drink. Christ was always (and is always) in total control of the events that came upon Him.

 

Like our Master, Lord, and Example, some Christ-ians (not all and not many)  are called to be lightning rods, agitators, provocateurs, and those who would stir up trouble. Christ, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah (the list could go on and on) were all agitators and troublemakers. Agitation, provoking, stirring others up are ways to get sleeping persons into action and animation.

John Baptist was a provoker, did he not draw out the prideful religionists to his waters? Paul was a provoker as he used the greeks and other gentiles to cause jealousy, in the Jews,  of God’s blessings.

We have a brother that is very good at provoking others. He is so good that some do not want to be around him. He can be annnoying and irritating, he uses words that others do not readily understand, with that being said, he is serving a good purpose. He is stirring up the otherwise indifferent, and making faith and religion, if you will, relavent in the live of others. It is a bad state of affairs when this world, the lost included, become indifferent to religious matters.

It is necessary to wind persons up, to draw persons out and to anger sleeping saints and reprobates. When a saint makes a controversial statement and no one challenges him, it is proof that the world has become indifferent to God. A world indifferent to God is a dead and hopeless world, a world of sleeping saints that are not stirred up by the things of God. God forbid this type of world. There should be and must be anger and arguements at the family table over religious differences, there must be saints growing irritatated with other saints over matters of faith, lest it all dies and becomes forgotten.

For Example: I do not support prayer in public schools, I hate abortion, yet I understand why it must be allowed in this wicked world and that is why i do not fight against it. I am definitely pro death penalty, and would be glad to be used as the person to apply the mode of death, hanging, decapitation, gas, needle, or shooting. I say these things in order to stir up differences of opinion and this is also why a person like our brother (Spoken of above) is annoying and irritating to the point others might not want to engage him.

We write about doctrines that others do not like thinking about, so that they will be provoked and be made useful to God. I enjoy writing on election, predestination, adoption, and sanctification so that others will get agitated and irritated. I speak of Christ dying for a definite number of individuals and not for all of mankind because it is true, it is right, it is controversial, and it is provoking.
I also enjoy and provoking (spiritually) Jehovah’s Witnesses. I also enjoy challenging Christ-ians in coffee and eating places. I provoke them to give glory to God by asking them if they truly believe in a God, I will demean their intelligence and their ways of thinking, they respond by standing up for our Lord, Master, and Saviour. When the time is right I applaud them for their love and devotion to our Lord and confess myself to be a Christ-ian also and then we pray prayers of thanks in the sight of others in the coffee house. This may sound like i am being condescending but i am not. Even our Lord would diguise Himself as another in order to teach a lesson. To provoke others is a Christ-like attribute, but to provoke must be used with wisdom and prudence and never for pride, haughtiness, or the exaltation of the flesh and self.

Other ways to provoke is to state that Christ-ians are better than those still in Adam. I say this because it is true, the Christ-ian is the new creature or creation in Christ. In his own person he is just like everyone else, but in Christ, he is made better than others in the sight of God. In Christ, the Christ-ian is royalty, we are prince or princess to our Lord’s Kingship.

God used the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy and or envy by bestowing blessings upon blessing upon the Gentiles.

To summarize:
To provoke others (Saved and lost) to anger, irritation, and  to cause others to seethe is one way that Christ-ianity lives eternal and the Godhead is greatly Glorified in the sight of believers and unbelievers.

Godspeed.