God Looks With Approval on These Things...

 

1 Peter 3:8-12. From The Message

Summing up: Be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions.

No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. 

Instead, bless --  that's your job  - bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; snub evil and cultivate good, run after peace for all you're worth.

God looks on all this with approval.....

One Thing I Ask of the LORD

 

                                                One Thing I Ask of the LORD

Psalm 27 -- "One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD..."

David's supreme priority is to 'gaze upon the beauty of the LORD.'

'Gazing' is not a one-time glimpse, but a steady, sustained focus.

It is not a look or prayer of petition, but a time of praising, adoring, worshipping and enjoying God just for who He is.

David finds God Himself beautiful, not just a bestower of gifts.

'This only do I seek,' says David.

Father, I know there is only one thing I really need in life. And I choose to want You above all else, I want more than just believing in You, joyful as that is. I want to see and sense Your beauty and love You for Yourself alone. I may not even understand that right now, but I know I want David's prayer to be my prayer,  my gracious, kind Father.

Amen

Consider Peter

Consider Peter --

Have you ever felt like your failure disqualified you from God's service and purpose for you?  Like one minute you're "in" and the next you are "out" -- forever?

Peter surely did. The record says he "wept bitterly" when he realized how he had himself betrayed his best Friend and Savior!

He went from swearing loyalty 'no matter what' to denying Him! A devastating collapse (Matthew 26:69-75).

Have you experienced something like that? (I have.)

A mistake so painful that you replay it in your mind over and over, re-condemning yourself and shuddering in self-hatred.

But Jesus shows us that a single event -- no matter the gravity -- is not the end of the story!

What if your greatest regret could become your greatest testimony?

When Jesus rose, He didn't ignore and avoid Peter. He searched him out. He didn't chastise him. He didn't ask, "Will I ever be able to trust you again? Or, "Why , Peter, did you do that?"

No. Jesus recreated the scene of Peter's failure, a charcoal fire, and made it a moment of divine, gracious healing. Because Jesus doesn't just forgive our sins, He transforms the whole event -- for our good and His glory.

Would your life change if you knew Christ wanted to restore you? Not punish you or replace you in His Kingdom plan?

Read again John 21.

Are you ready to let Jesus turn your setback into a comeback?

Resurrection isn't just a gift -- it's a promise. And that promise is that your story isn't over. And today is the first day of the rest of your life!

Samuel's Farewell to His People

Samuel's Farewell Address

I am reading a great passage today in the  Old Testament - it sounds so appropriate for us today. It appears to be Samuel's last important words - his farewell message - to his people. It's all recorded in I Samuel 12.

We always seem to take note of people's "last words."

Here is one of the passages I especially appreciate:

"Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. 

"You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your hearts...For the sake of His great Name the LORD will not reject His people, because the LORD was pleased to make you His own.

And as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you...But be sure to fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your hearts; consider what great things He has done for you." (v 20-24).


(Comment: How could we not serve Him faithfully when we consider what great things He has done for us!)

Certainly words of caution for us today....

And re-read this line: the LORD was pleased to make you His own...Part of the 'great mystery' - it pleased Him)

And also notice that each time Samuel refers to God he calls Him LORD, His personal, special covenant - Yahweh - Name....!)

Our God - LORD - is so eternally faithful!

His Love That Will not Let Me Go

                                                      

                                                     O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

I've been thinking about another old hymn today - about 150 years old, written by George Matheson.

I didn't hear it sung much in church when I was growing up. But I do remember seeing it in our hymnal and pondering its gentle, sweetly powerful words.

I remember thinking about who wrote it and wondering if I would ever know anyone who knew God that well.

In the passing years I have met a few -- a few-- saints who loved God and worshipped Him like the author of this hymn. 

I think anyone singing it must bow their head in prayer and in awe.

I really isn't a congregational hymn, I think;  It is too personal. Sometimes I sing it when I am alone with God and no one is listening....

    O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.

     I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths

    its flow may richer, fuller be.

    O Light that follows all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee.

My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in Thy sunshine's glow

its day may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee.

I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain

That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that lifts up my head, I dare not ask to hide from Thee

I lay in dust life's glory dead, and from the ground there

blossoms red, life that shall endless be.

He is our LOVE, LIGHT, and JOY. He is everything we want and need, but it all starts at the CROSS.

The Best is Yet to Come! - C S Lewis and Charles Spurgeon

There are far better things ahead than what we left behind.                                                                   --- C S Lewis


Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.
                                                    --- Ecclesiastes 7:8


Look at David's Lord and Master; consider His beginning. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Then look at the end!

He sits at His Father's right hand, waiting until His enemies are made His footstool.

"As He is so we are also in this world" (1 John 4:17).

You must bear the cross or you will never wear the crown ; you must wade through the water or you will never walk on the golden pavement. 

Cheer up, then, poor Christian.

"Better is the end of a thing than its beginning."

View the creeping worm -- how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in sunbeams, sipping at the flowers, full of happiness and life -- that is the worm's end.

You are that caterpillar, wrapped up on the chrysalis of death; but when Christ appears, you will be like Him, for you will see Him as He is.

Be content to be like Him, a worm and no man, so that like Him you may be satisfied when you wake up in His likeness.

The rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the gem-smith. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much -- much that seemed costly to itself.

The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon his head, accompanied by the trumpet's joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it beams from that same diamond that was so recently fashioned at the wheel.

You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God's people; and this is the time of the cutting process.

Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown is set upon  the head of the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from you.

"They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession" (Malachi 3:17).

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.

                                         Charles Spurgeon

Easter - Resurrection thoughts from Yancey

In the 40 days between Christ's resurrection and His ascension back to heaven, He made various appearances to the believers.


Appearances of Christ after His resurrection --
Thoughts from Philip Yancey, in The Jesus I Never Knew.


.......There were no angels in the sky singing choruses, no kings from afar bearing gifts. Jesus showed up in the most ordinary circumstances: a private dinner, two men walking along a road, a woman weeping in a garden, some fishermen working a lake...

Life continues in that vein for nearly 6 weeks: Jesus is there, then He's gone.

The appearances are not spectral, but flesh-and-blood encounters.

Jesus can always prove His identity--no other living person bears scars of crucifixion--yet often the disciples fail to recognize Him right away.

Painstakingly, He condescends to meet the level of their skepticism.

For suspicious Thomas, it means a personal invitation to finger the scars. For the humiliated Peter, It means a bittersweet scene of rehabilitation in front of six friends.


The appearances, approximately a dozen, show a definite pattern. Jesus visited small groups of people in a remote area or closeted indoors.


Although these private rendezvous bolstered the faith of those who already believed in Jesus, as far as we know, not a single unbeliever saw Jesus after His death.

Reading the accounts of execution and resurrection back-to-back, I have sometimes wondered why Jesus did not make even more appearances.

Why limit visitations to His friends? Why not reappear on Pilate's porch or before the Sanhedrin, this time with a withering blast against those who had condemned Him?

Perhaps a clue to strategy can be found in His words to Thomas, on the day Thomas' skepticism melted away forever: "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

..."Because you have seen Me, you have believed," He said.

But what about the others?

Very soon, Jesus knew, His personal appearances would come to a halt, leaving only "those who have not seen."

The church would stand or fall on how persuasive these eyewitnesses would be for all--including us today--who have not seen. Jesus had six weeks in which to establish His identity for all time....

Easter Sunday - Resurrection Sunday?

 We call it Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday. The disciples called it Day of Firstfruits -- one of the festival days God commanded His people to observe. Read about it in Leviticus 23:9-14. In Hebrew it is "Yom HaBikkurim."

  It was observed by waving the first sheaf of the spring harvest before the Lord, offering it to Him to express thanksgiving for all His provision of all their needs, acknowledging that everything comes from and belongs to God.

  It showed their faith in God's providence and confidence that a full, rich harvest would follow, and their complete dependence on Him to supply their needs.

 This ceremony always fell on "the day after the Sabbath" during Passover week.

 (Many years ago farmers in this country often auctioned off their first bale of cotton, in an exciting celebration of what rich bounty was to come! That bale was the 'first fruit' of their labor and predicted what a plentiful harvest they would have!)

  Paul described Jesus Christ as "the first fruits of them that slept" in 1 Corinthians 15:20. Just as first fruits anticipated the full harvest to come,  the resurrection of Christ guarantees our resurrection and eternal live to come!

  The resurrection was not a stand-alone miracle event, it was the culmination of a promise embedded in Jewish worship, a divine pattern established before and planned in advance in detail.

  In Hebrew understanding, the first fruits weren't merely symbolic -- they were a sacred pledge that the complete harvest was assured. 

  A small sheaf of barley or wheat - the first fruit of a great harvest!

  A crucified, risen Savior - the first fruit of God's eternal Kingdom - that includes us!

   And now we listen for that trumpet call that will bring in His final harvest! Maranatha, Lord Jesus!

  

Anticipating Easter - The Final 3 Hours - John MacArthur

The Final Three Hours on the Cross

(MT) Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, (LK) the sun was darkened [and] (MT) there was darkness over all the land. (MT) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" (MK) which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

(MT) Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "Look, (MT) this Man is calling for Elijah!"

(JN) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. (MT) Immediately one of then ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed of (JN) hyssop, and put it to His mouth

(MT) and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him and (MK) take Him down." (JN) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!"

(LK) And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, into your hands I commit My spirit." Having said this, (JN) and bowing His head, (LK) He breathed His last (MT) and yielded up His spirit.

(MT - Matthew) 27:45-50
(MK - Mark) 15:33-37
(LK - Luke) 23:4-45a
(JN - John) 19:28-30


Notes from John MacArthur:

1. From the 6th hour until the 9th hour - From noon until 3 PM. The crucifixion began at 9 AM and so the 6th hour marked the halfway point of Jesus' six hours on the cross.

2. Darkness - A mark of divine judgment (cf. Isaiah 5:30,13:10-11; Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).

The geographical extent of the darkness is not known, although the writings of the church fathers hint that is extended beyond Israel.

This could not have been caused by an eclipse because Jews used a lunar calendar. Passover always fell on full moon, making solar eclipse out of the question. This was a supernatural darkness.

3. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani - "Eli" is Hebrew, the rest Aramaic. (Mark 15:34 gives the entire wail in Aramaic.)

This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of the many striking parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.

Christ at that moment was experiencing the abandonment and despair that resulted from the outpouring of divine wrath on Him as sin-bearer (cf. Matthew 26:39).

[Note: Christ cried out "My God," not "Abba," and not "Father," His usual terms of addressing His Father. This is the only time in the gospels He did not address God as His Father.]

4. Why have You forsaken Me? Jesus felt keenly His abandonment by the Father resulting from God's wrath being poured out on Him as the substitute for sinners (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

5. Sour wine - The drink here is not the same as the "wine mixed with myrrh" offered to Him as He marched to the cross (Matthew 27:34) which was intended to lessen the pain. The purpose of this cheap, sour wine (cf. Mark 15:36) is to prolong life and increase the torture.

The term harkens back to Psalm 69:21 where the same word is found in the Septuagint. Hyssop is a little plant that is ideal for sprinkling. (see Exodus 12:22).

[See also Psalm 51]

6. Elijah - Further mockery which in effect meant, "Let the forerunner come and save this so-called Messiah" (cf. Luke 1:17).

7."It is finished!" The verb here carries the idea of fulfilling one's mission and religious obligations (see John 17:4). The entire work of redemption has been brought to completion.

The single Greek word here translated it is finished
has been found in the papyri being placed on receipts for taxes meaning "paid in full" (see Colossians 3:13-14).

8. Cried out with a loud voice - Demonstrating amazing strength in light of the intense suffering He had endured. His shout reveals that His life did not slowly ebb away, but that He voluntarily gave it up (John 10:17-18).

9. Into Your hands - This quotes Psalm 31:5, and the manner of His death accords with John 10:18. Normally, victims of crucifixion died much slower death. He, bring in control, simply yielded up His soul(John 10:18; 19:30), committing it to God. Thus He offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14).

10. Yielded up His spirit - A voluntary act. The sentence signaled that Jesus "handed over" His spirit as an act of His will. No one took His life from Him for He voluntarily and willingly gave it up (see John 10:17-18).



These notes taken from One Perfect Life, by John MacArthur

Anticipating Easter - Forsaken - Philip Yancey

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
(Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:33)


This time only, of all his prayers in the Gospels, Jesus used the formal, distant word "God" rather than "Abba," or "Father."  He was quoting from a psalm (22:1), of course, but he was also expressing a grave sense of estrangement. Some inconceivable split had opened up in the Godhead. The Son felt abandoned by the Father.

"The 'hiddenness' of God perhaps presses more painfully on those who are in another way nearest to Him, and therefore God Himself, made man, will of all men be by God the most forsaken," wrote C. S. Lewis.

No doubt he is right. It matters little if I am rebuffed by the checkout girl at the supermarket or even by a neighbor two blocks down the street.

But if my wife, with whom I've spent my entire adult life, suddenly cuts off all communication with me -- that matters.

No theologian can adequately explain the nature of what took place within the Trinity on that day at Calvary. All we have is a cry of pain from a child who felt forsaken.

Did it help that Jesus had anticipated that his mission on earth would include such a death?

What if no angel had appeared and Abraham had plunged a knife into the heart of his son, his only son, whom he loved? What then?

 Did it help Isaac to know his father Abraham was just following orders when he tied him to the altar?

That is what happened at Calvary, and to the Son it felt like abandonment.

We are not told what God the Father cried out at that moment. We can only imagine.

The Son "became a curse for us," said Paul in Galatians, and "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us," he wrote the Corinthians.

We know how God feels about sin; the sense of abandonment likely cut both ways.



Commentators have observed that the record in Matthew and Mark is one of the strongest proofs that we have an authentic account of what took place on Calvary. For what reason would the founders of a new religion put such disparaging words in the mouth of their dying hero--unless that's precisely what he said.


  -- From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

Anticipating Easter - He must die!

    
     He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer
     many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and
     teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three
     days arise again. He spoke plainly about this....
                                                       -- Mark 8:31-32

    

When Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man, is he saying that he is human?

Certainly he is human -- fully human as well as fully God -- in that mysterious Body that only an omnipotent God could bring into existence.

But there is much more.

In the prophecies of Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14), we see a divine messianic figure, "one like a son of man,"
coming with the clouds of heaven...He was given authority,
glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of
every language worshipped him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass
away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.


The disciples would have made this connection.

The "son of man" is the One who is to come and make everything right!

But Jesus says the "son of man" must suffer.

They were incredulous. Never before in Israel's
history had the coming Messiah, the long-anticipated King of Israel, been connected with suffering.

Yes, they knew of the many prophecies of the mysterious Servant of the Lord who suffers (Isaiah 43, 44, 53, etc.), but certainly the Christ, the Messiah, was not the one to suffer!

Just a short time before, Jesus had asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" and Peter had declared, "You are the Messiah!"

Probably some of them were not yet even comfortable with that eternal truth, and now they are told that the promised Messiah must suffer!

It made no sense at all. The Messiah was supposed to defeat evil and injustice and make everything right in the world.

He would ascend his throne and rule in righteousness and mercy.

But here, Jesus is saying, "Yes, I am the Messiah, the King, but I came not to live but to die. I'm not here to take power but to lose it; I'm here not to rule but to serve.

"And that's how I am going to defeat evil and put everything back to way it was meant to be."

Not just, "I've come to die" but "I have to die.

"It's absolutely necessary that I die.

"The world can't be renewed, and neither can you, unless I die." 

Anticipating Easter - God's Not So Secret Rescue Mission

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all....

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

                                -- Isaiah 53

"Look, the Lamb of God,

who takes away the sin of the world."  

                              -- John 1:29

It is in the early pages of Genesis that we first learn of God's Rescue Mission (Genesis 3:15).

Then we learn of His continued plan - choosing Abraham to bring His light and message to the world....And through Abraham of all the nations on earth God chose one nation -- the people of Israel -- to help Him accomplish this mission.

Yet, just as men and women became slaves to spiritual darkness, God's chosen nation also found itself in bondage, held captive by a despotic king in Egypt.

The Jews cried out to God to rescue them and he heard their cries.

As Moses wrote in the book of Exodus, God sent an Angel of Death to kill all the firstborn children in Egypt, to compel the wicked leader to free the Jews from their oppressors.

All the firstborn in every family would die!

There was only one way for a family to escape death: they must cover their doorframe with the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are," God tells His people, "and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt."

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus (the Stranger joining the two disciples) reveals that the Messiah, the Rescuer, was to be like this "Passover lamb."

He was to be sacrificed to save others from the awful judgment of God.

These disciples had read and recited the words of Moses and the Prophets from childhood. They had never failed to observe the Passover meal.

Yet somehow they had not understood the message about a Messiah who suffers for the sins of mankind in order to bring God's people everlasting freedom.

It seems impossible to believe: this figure of suffering is the Rescuer of Israel.

And the history of Israel is a story of preparation for His coming.

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' (John 1:29).

Anticipating Easter - The Tomb

(MT) As evening approached there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

Then Joseph (MK) bought fine linen and took Him down, (JN) And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and (MT) wrapped (JN) it in strips of (MT) clean linen cloth with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, (MK) and Joseph laid him in (MT) his new tomb which he had hewn out of rock, (JN) in which no one had yet been laid (LK) before. (MT) and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and departed.

(MT)  Matthew 27:59-66
(MK) Mark 15:46-47
(LK)   Luke 23:53-56
(JN)   John 19:39-42


From a borrowed manger to a borrowed tomb. The life of a humble carpenter-preacher - but in death His body was treated with royal love and care.

He was, after all, a King.

MYRRH and ALOES. A very expensive mixture. Myrrh (also given to the baby Jesus by the wise men) was a valuable fragrant gummy resin. The Jews turned it into powder and mixed it with aloes (a rare sandalwood product).

Jews, unlike Egyptians, did not embalm. But this special mixture would delay decay and suppress the odor.

Some historians say this seventy-five pounds would cost, in today's money, several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And some say even powerful kings of the time would have received no more than this for their burial.


WRAPPED IT IN LINEN....Since Jews did not embalm, they wrapped bodies in perfumed burial cloths. Nicodemus, another prominent member of the Sanhedrin (John 7:50) assisted Joseph in caring for the body of Jesus.

The two men, who apparently kept their love for and faith in Jesus secret during His lifetime, came forth publicly to bury Him, while His disciples, public followers before His death, fled and hid afterwards.

STRIPS AND SPICES. The spices were spread along the full length of the cloth strips which were then wrapped around His body. Additional spices were placed underneath the body and set around it.

The sticky resin would serve to help the cloth adhere to the body.

TOMB HEWN OUT OF THE ROCK. This "tomb" was located near Golgotha (John 19:42). Mathew adds that it was Joseph's own tomb.

Joseph, a wealthy man, undoubtedly had the tomb prepared for his own family, much like the royal families of Egypt would prepare their final resting places.

Christ's burial there was a wonderful fulfillment of Isaiah 53:9 - He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.

Likely, as in many of these rock-hewn burial places, shelves were carved from the inside walls, providing a space for the body to be placed above the floor.

These shelves facilitated the handling of the bodies.

A fascinating reflection is of the Ark of the Covenant, with its mercy seat covering the broken law tablets and the two angels gracing the right and left sides of the mercy seat. The priest would sprinkle blood from the sacrificial animal on the mercy seat, between the angels. (See Exodus 25)

Symbolically, when God looked upon the Ark of the Covenant He would see the blood of the sacrifice covering the actual tablets of the broken law.

The blood of the perfect sacrifice made atonement for the people for the broken law.

That's why it was called the Mercy Seat. God's people found mercy there in God's presence amidst the shed blood.

Imagine the scene - Mary stood outside the tomb crying on Easter morning. "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" (John 20:10-12).

The shelf in the tomb images the mercy seat cover of the Ark and the blood of Christ sprinkled on the shelf with the two attending angels.

It's all there!

God's mysterious plan - His ultimate rescue plan - revealed to us by our gracious and loving God. A glimpse into the past and into the future.

     The LORD confides in those who fear Him; He
     makes His covenant known to them. Psalm 25:14

Anticipating Easter - A Violent Death - From Timothy Keller

Jesus' death had to be a violent one. The writer of Hebrews says that "without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22).

This is not a magical view of blood.

Rather, the term blood in the Bible means a life given or taken before its natural end.

A life given or taken is the most extreme gift or price that can be paid in this world.

Only by giving his life could Jesus have made the greatest possible payment for the debt of sin.

Jesus' death was not only a payment, however; it was also a demonstration.

James Edwards writes:

       The prediction of Jesus' passion conceals a great irony,
       for the suffering and death of the Son of Man will not
       come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and
       wicked people...rather at the hands of "the elders, chief
       priests, and teachers of the law".....Jesus would not be
       lynched by an enraged mob or beaten to death in a criminal
       act. He will be arrested with official warrants, and tried
       and convicted by the world's legal jurisprudence -- the
       Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman court.

The Jewish chief priests, teachers of the law, and,
of course, the Roman rulers should have been standing up for justice but instead conspired to commit an act of injustice by condemning Jesus to death.

The cross reveals the systems of the world to be corrupt, serving power and oppression  instead of justice and truth.

In condemning Jesus, the world was condemning itself.

Jesus' death demonstrates not only the bankruptcy of the world, but it also reveals the character of God and his kingdom.

Jesus' death was not a failure. By submitting to death as penalty, he broke its hold on him and on us.

When Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, he won through losing; he achieved our forgiveness on the cross by turning the values of the world on their head. He did not "fight fire with fire."

He didn't come and raise an army in order to put down the latest corrupt regime.

He didn't take power; he gave it up -- and yet he triumphed.

The corrupt powers of his world have many tools to make people afraid, the worst one being death.

But since Jesus died and rose again from the dead, if you can find a way to approach Jesus and cling to him you know that death, the worst thing that can possible happen to you, is now the best thing.

Death will put you in God's arms and make you all you hoped to be.

And when death loses its sting, when death no longer has power over you because of what Jesus did on the cross, then you will be living a life of love and not a life of fear.

       -- From King's Cross, Chapter 9,
                                      by Timothy Keller



       When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable,
          and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is
          written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in
          victory.'

         "Where, O death, is your victory?
           Where, O death, is your sting?"

         The sting of death is sin...But thanks be to God! He gives
         us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
                                     --1 Corinthians 15:55-56

Anticipating Easter - What's in your cup (Besides Coffee) ?

When we encounter death or other severe losses and heartaches...

The worst thing is not the sorrow or the loss or the heartbreak. The worst thing is to be encountered by death and not to be changed by the encounter. 
-- Richard John Neuhaus, As I Lay Dying

"...to have the experience and miss the meaning" 
T S. Eliot, Four Quartets


When we experience pain and heartbreak, sometimes there are pills or drugs we can take to help us get through the dark days. Or we can try frantic acts of busyness to deaden our emotions.

Part of that danger, though,  is that the experience is still waiting when we are through with the pills and the frenzied activities. We didn't move on; we just delayed facing the grief.

The other part of the danger is that God intended us to experience the pain and suffering.

His goal? To make us into images of His Son, who did not take pills to deaden His pain.

There are people in our society, who, through carefully prescribed medication, receive the help they need to get through life. To avoid, as Shakespeare described, "The slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune."

This is not about those folks...

For most of us, we should not get used to the ease in which we can resort to chemical relief...to the dulling of all the sharp edges of painful experience.

Jesus prayed, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14)

Later at His arrest He said, "Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" (John 18)

In the Old Testament that cup is described as the cup of God's wrath, His absolute judgment on the wicked world. (Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8).

Of all who had ever lived on this planet, this omnipotent God-man had the ability to remove that cup. To smash it into pieces and throw it into utter cosmic darkness. He did not have to drink the cup.

But He chose to drink the cup.


I think the cup we are given always comes from our Father.

Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E're to take, as from a Father's hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting

Til I reach the promised land.

         Day by Day, by Caroline V. Sandell-Berg


Jesus drank the cup. He drained it dry. He lifted it up and took the very last drop.

Are we to do the same?

Anticipating Easter - What's most important?

                                

                                       Easter - What's Most Important?

My universalist friends tell me that we evangelicals emphasize the crucifixion too much -- that we should concentrate more of our attention on the resurrection instead.

It's an interesting thought.

But when I read through the gospels in preparing myself for Easter I notice something different.

The gospel writers themselves place far more emphasis on the death of Jesus than they do on His resurrection - if, that is, we can measure such a thing by the space they allow for the events.

It seems much more of the gospel material recorded relates to Christ's death than to His resurrection.

Matthew - 28 chapters. Chapter 21 begins with the Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), the last week of Christ's earthly life, climaxing in chapters 26-27 with His arrest and death. Only chapter 28 records the resurrection.

In my copy, Matthew takes up 54 pages, with 18 pages on Christ's last week, and one page for the resurrection.

Mark has 16 chapters, with 11-15 devoted to the last week and only chapter, 16, to the resurrection.

Luke is a similar arrangement.

John has 21 chapters and the record of the last week begins in Chapter 11, with the resurrection of Jesus covered in chapters 20 and 21.

Also significant is the obvious slowing down of activity, a winding down, as the gospel writers record their words for us. We can see the climax coming.

When we celebrate Lord's Supper, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" 

(1 Corinthians 11:26)

The scene of Christ's death is bloody and horrifying. It has been retold so many times that perhaps we have developed an immunity to the pain involved.

It was not fast like executions today in gas chambers, or electric chairs. It went on for hours in front of  scornful, mocking crowds, jeering at our Lord and Savior. Mocking Him -- Save Yourself, if You indeed are the Messiah!"

Jesus' death is the cornerstone of our faith, the most important fact of His Incarnation.

He came to die.

We can't follow Jesus without confronting His death.

"The gospels bulge with its details. He laid out a trail of hints and bold predictions about it throughout his ministry, predictions that could only be understood after it had been done, when to the disciples, the dream looked shattered.

"His life seemed prematurely wasted. His triumphant words from the night before surely must have cruelly haunted His followers as they watched Him groan and twitch on the cross."  (From The Gift of Pain by Philip Yancey)

No matter how glorious and celebratory the resurrection morning, it is the gruesome death that brings us back to God.

We glory in the resurrection, but our atonement and reconciliation comes from the death.

We call that day, not Black Friday, but Good Friday.

But after all that is said, He had to conquer death, because He is God and through His resurrection He guaranteed our own resurrection. And he fulfilled prophecy and also his own promises to His disciples.

Hear Paul's words to the Corinthians:

Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures....
                        -- 1 Corinthians 15:1-4


Death, burial and resurrection - it takes all to complete the gospel - the good news! This is the "gospel by which you are saved"!