It Will Not Always Be Night

                                  

                                    It Will Not Always Be Night

"At the Last Supper, as recorded in John 13, we read, 'As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.'

History's greatest injustice was underway, yet Jesus declared, 'Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in Him.'

In a few hours, the disciples would experience panic, defeat, and rejection.

 But Jesus saw God's plan unfolding as it should.

When it seems darkness is winning, we can recall that God faced His dark night and defeated it. He walks with us.

It won't always be night."

                              -- Tim Gustafson

Jesus saw God's plan unfolding as it should. No, friends, it will not always be night!

Approaching Easter - That Historic Morning

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying.

As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him."

At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

"Woman," he said, "who is it you are looking for?

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him."

Jesus said to her, "Mary."

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means 'Teacher').

Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, "I am returned to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
                      -- John 20

Approaching Easter - The Curtain - Spurgeon

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two,

from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:51

No small miracle was performed in the tearing of so strong and thick a curtain; but it was not intended merely as a display of power -- many lessons were contained in it.

The old law of ordinances was put away, and like a worn-out garment, torn and set aside.

When Jesus died, the sacrifices were all finished, because they were fulfilled in Him; and therefore the place of sacrifice, the temple, was marked with a clear sign of this change.

With the curtain torn, all the hidden things of the old dispensation became apparent: the mercy-seat could now be seen, and the glory of God gleaming above it.

By the death of our Lord Jesus we now have a clear revelation of God, for He was "not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face."

Life and immortality are now brought to life, and things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world are displayed in Him.

The annual ceremony of atonement was also abolished.

The atoning blood that once every year was sprinkled inside the curtain was now offered once for all by the great High Priest, and therefore the place of the symbolic act was finished.

No blood of bullocks or lambs is needed now, for Jesus has entered inside the curtain with His own blood.

Therefore access to God is now permitted and is the privilege of very believer in Christ Jesus.

It is not just a small opening through which we may peer at the mercy-seat, but the tear reaches from the top to the bottom.

We may come with boldness to the throne of heavenly grace.

Is it wrong to suggest that the opening of the Holy of Holies in this marvelous way by our Lord's expiring cry was signifying the opening of the gate of paradise to all the saints by virtue of the Passion?

Our bleeding Lord has the key of heaven; He opens and no man shuts; let us enter in with Him to the heavenly places and sit with Him there until our common enemies shall be made His footstool.

The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

 -- Psalm 110:1