Cut It Straight: Directly and Correctly*

      The Apostle Paul wrote of how we should minister the Word of God to ourselves and to others: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (orthotomeo - rightly divide, to cut straight, to teach the truth directly and correctly, to make a straight cut, to proceed on straight paths) the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15). 

     Cutting the Word straight, or orthotomeo, yields fruit in our own lives and in others' lives, and ties in directly to who we have become in Christ: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved...That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest (arrabon - pledge or downpayment given in advance as assurance that the full amount will subsequently be paid) of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Paul in Eph. 1:1-6, 12-14).

     God has made us one with Himself through Christ, and given us an inheritance in Him. We have received this entrance into the glory of His grace because we heard the rightly divided word of truth, which is the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, which we believed. In this same manner, we were given the Holy Spirit as a seal and guarantee of all that the Father has promised to us, this great inheritance.

     As Jesus taught His disciples the signs and events that would happen in the last days before His return, which is imminent, He warned that iniquity would abound and the love of many would become cold. Then He said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Mt. 24:12-14, excerpt).

     Even as we see the world becoming more and more sinful, it becomes even more important to preach the Gospel of salvation, of which both Jesus and Paul, above, spoke. We are seeing the Gospel preached around the world in a way that was never possible in past eras, and we have heard testimonies of salvation being received in India, Iran, and other parts of the world even under the threat of persecution for those who believe. Now is the time to "cut it straight," and deliver the Word of God "directly and correctly."

     On one Sabbath, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth. He read: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord...." He then closed the book without finishing the rest of the verses from Isaiah. He announced to those who were in the synagogue: "This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Lk. 4:16-21).

     Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was raised there in Nazareth. All in the synagogue that day knew Him and His family. Although they were amazed at the grace of His words, they wondered how this familiar local neighbor could speak in this manner. Jesus also knew that they desired to see the confirming miracles that He had done in Capernaum. Jesus, perceiving their thoughts said: "Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country." (v. 22-24). Because of this unbelief caused by familiarity, Jesus explained that the great prophets of Israel were unable to perform miracles in their own country, but foreigners and Gentiles experienced the miracles instead, such as the widow of Sidon, who received a miracle from Elijah, and Naaman the leper from Syria, who was healed by obeying the words of Elishah. (v. 22-27, excerpt).

     "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard those things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them went his way." (v. 28-30). They resented His words that charged them with the unbelief that had caused Gentiles to receive the favor and miracles of God rather than themselves. Other prophets had also been rejected by the unbelief of their own people, such as Moses, Aaron and Samuel.

     Jesus could not be killed that day because it was not His time to die. Jesus said that no man could take His life from Him, but He laid down His own life for the sheep.

     This same unbelief also prevented His listeners that day from hearing and receiving the rightly divided Gospel from the One who spoke it directly and correctly to them from the writing of the prophet Isaiah - Jesus Himself.

     The prophet Isaiah writing continued beyond the place where Jesus had stopped reading. In the continued verses, Isaiah wrote the prophecy of the day of vengeance of the LORD, and the mourning that would take place in Zion. (Isa. 61:2-3).

     In rightly dividing the Word of God, we also see how the details of the crucifixion of Christ as reported in the Gospels, directly and correctly proceed on a straight path with the prophetic Word given to David in Psalm 22 seven hundred years before crucifixion was invented as a form of execution. Soldiers divided Christ's garments and then cast lots for Christ's coat or tunic "that scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. (see Ps. 22:18). These things therefore the soldiers did." (Jn. 19:23-24). 

     As Jesus said, "I thirst," in the Gospel account, He knew "that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled", was given vinegar on a sponge held to His mouth on a branch of hyssop. (Jn. 19:28-30). This was prophesied in Ps. 22:15 and Ps. 69:21.

     As the soldiers came to bring the crucifixion to an end in death, they broke the legs of the two criminals who had been crucified on either side of Jesus, but did not break Jesus' legs because He was already dead: "...And he (the disciple, John) that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken." (Jn. 19:31-33, Ex. 12:46). The legs would be broken on the person being crucified to hasten death by suffocation, because then the person could no longer push up on his feet to breathe. 

     Jesus' side was pierced by the spear of a Roman soldier to confirm Christ's death, causing water and blood to pour out, a sign of the decomposition of the blood: "And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced." (Jn. 19:34, 37). This fulfilled Ps. 22:16-17, referring to the piercings of the hands and feet, and Zech. 12:10 which says: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."

     David ended his prophetic psalm by writing: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD (YHWH - "Behold the hand, behold the nail" in pictographic paleo Hebrew): and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations...They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." (Ps. 22:27-28, 31). As Jesus said, "This Gospel shall be preached to all the nations...", and even to a people yet to be born.

      Centuries before the appearance of Christ, the prophet Isaiah declared the Gospel, cutting it straight, directly and correctly, as he prophetically described the suffering Servant sent by God to be sacrificed for our sins and transgressions. Isaiah described a man so marred in appearance that He astonished those who saw Him. (Isa. 52:13-14). However, the news, the Gospel, of the naza sprinkling of His blood would reach kings and nations, who would see and hear of this Servant of God, the Messiah/Christ, Jesus. (v. 15).

     Isaiah asked "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" (Isa. 53:1). Isaiah declared that this Man "was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all...He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation: for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 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. 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." (v. 5-12, excerpt).

     Anyone rightly dividing Isaiah's words above knows to whom Isaiah was referring. Isaiah revealed the purpose of God accomplished through His Son and Servant, Jesus. These prophetic words describe a single man and not a whole nation. These words directly and correctly describe a man who suffered and died, not for His own sins, but for the sins of others, for we have all gone astray and gone our own way, as Isaiah wrote. This prophetic promise of God and its fulfilment in Jesus Christ is the Gospel for all nations, including and especially all of the descendants of Abraham, from whom the faithful suffering Servant of whom Isaiah wrote above, came.

      Psalm 119:41 and 43 say: "Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word...And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments." 

     Rightly dividing the Word of God contains the message of our salvation.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 6/29/25 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling is available on Amazon.