The last week of Christ’s life takes more space in the
Gospels than any entire year in His ministry, and a six hour time span on the
day of His death takes up as much space as the months He spent in Galilee. The Word tells us of much of what happened and words spoken during this
paradigm-changing, single most crucial week in history. Yet it leaves to our imagination much of what
Jesus thought and felt.
Imagine that you are a parent, and that your beloved children
have committed crimes against the powers that be. Justice demands their severe punishment
and execution, and they are condemned to die an excruciating, prolonged death. But
you have arranged to substitute your life in their place, and you willingly
agree to suffer and die so that they may live. You know when, where and how your gruesome
execution will occur. You know that you are innocent, yet all will believe that
you are guilty and deserve to die.
So you warn your children that you will be put to death,
and you explain the specifics without going into detail about the horror. You know that your time
with them is short, and you want to impart to them all of your wisdom and Godly example before you die.
But sadly, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize
they are guilty of any serious offense, so they don’t understand the need for
your sacrifice. You tell them you are going to die, and they argue over who
will have more privileges when you’re gone. You explain the most important life lessons you want them to understand, backed up by your Godly example during
your time with them, yet they not only fail to understand but don’t even care
to learn.
You fill your last moments with them with meaningful
family time, commemorating what has been and what will be, but they’re
distracted with arguing with one another. You ask them to pray, not for you and
your ordeal to come, but for themselves, that they will have the spiritual strength
to carry your message forward. Instead, they fall asleep. You are arrested, tried, and put to death, and they run away, abandoning you instead of being
proud to be in your family.
Yet this is just a poor illustration of what Jesus
suffered. His sacrifice paid for all sins (John
1:29), past, present and future, of all mankind, not against a worldly
power but against God the Father Himself, against the Creator and Ruler of the
universe. His love was infinite and completely self-sacrificing, taking no
thought for His own desires but willing to give His all to save us (John 15:13).
His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.
His sacrifice was not just for those who loved and trusted Him as He walked this earth, but for all of us, all sinners (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; Isaiah 64:6), children of the devil (John 3:10), and enemies of God (Romans 5:10) deserving eternal punishment in hell.
One of the many ways in
which His life was unique was that His divine omniscience allowed Him perfect
foreknowledge of coming events (Acts 2:23), with all their detail and ramifications. He had
known since the beginning of time that man’s salvation demanded not only His
coming to earth wrapped in human flesh, but His agonizing death on the cross (Revelation 13:8; Psalm. 88:15).
He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).
He knew that even His closest disciples would be clueless about what He was telling them (Matthew 12:40; 16:20; 17:22-23; 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34). Their priority was not His mission as much as their own power and prestige (Matthew 16:21-23; 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-45).
Just as He supernaturally knew how to arrange His last
Passover meal with His loved ones (Matthew
26:17-18; Mark 14:12-15); He also knew that they would be more
concerned about who
would betray Him (Matthew 26:21-25;
Mark 14:18-21) and who among them was greatest (Luke 22:21-24) than about understanding the eternal significance
of the bread and wine, symbolizing His body broken and His blood shed for the
remission of our sins (Matthew 26:26-28;
Mark 14:22-24).
I wonder if His perfect knowledge made His sadness and
pain easier or more difficult to bear? It
may have been even more painful because He knew the details of how He would be
betrayed by Judas and Peter (Matthew
26:47-50; 69-75; Mark 14:29-31; 43-46; 66-72), abandoned by the
others (Matthew 26:31-43; Mark
14:27; 37-40), doubted by Thomas (John
20:24-25), and accused, humiliated and tortured by His very people that
He came to save (Matthew 26:59-68;
Mark 14:55-65).
Yet His unspeakably horrible trial may have been made
possible to endure by His foreknowledge of the ultimate result. As difficult as
it is for my limited human mind to fathom, He not only willingly sacrificed
Himself (John 10:17) and set His
face resolutely toward Jerusalem (Luke
9: 51; Isaiah 50:6), but He endured His suffering for the joy of
giving us eternal life (Hebrews 12:2).
He knew that He would restore Peter and the others to vital
positions of ministry (John 20:15-19),
that even Thomas would no longer doubt (John
20:26-28), that He would convert Saul to Paul and give the gospel of grace to be spread to all peoples (Acts
9), and that His resurrection would conquer sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:20-57). Praise
God that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) now
have eternal life!
© 2014 Laurie Collett
Reposted from the archives
Reposted from the archives
5 comments:
Dear Laurie,
Great post, ideal for pre-Easter.
Yes, I can understand how Jesus might have felt towards his disciples when they were apathetic to His mission.
Yet he went through the ordeal, knowing fully well of the tremendous reward that awaited him. That is, the uncountable number of the redeemed in Heaven, saints going back to Adam, right through to the end of history, will all be there.
Furthermore, three whole chapters in John's Gospel are about the Promise of the Holy Spirit, who will transform from within their apathetic state into fiery messengers of the Gospel.
And Jesus already knew this.
Blessings to you and Richard.
Dear Frank,
Thank you for your encouragement and Scriptural insights. Praise the Lord that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, and that He was able to see past the discouragement and suffering to the reward of redeemed souls. Praise Him also for sending His Spirit to indwell, encourage, uplift and inspire us to be His ambassadors.
God bless you and Alex,
Laurie
Hi Laurie,
No other person on earth could have done what Jesus did for mankind, and Jesus would have known this, as He was the only begotten Son of God Who was born of the Spirit. The sin was in the flesh, and that is why He had to have that part of Him crucified, for us to be able to be born of the Holy Spirit and become children of God. I believe absolutely that these thoughts were what would have strengthened Him to continue to do what only He could do. God bless you for sharing Laurie.
Amen, Brenda -- very well said. Only The Son of God, Son of Man, God Himself in the flesh, 100% God and 100% man, could be the perfect, sinless sacrifice to pay for all of our sins.
Thanks for your lovely comment and God bless,
Laurie
Hello Laurie, This was very encouraging. I'm glad I took a moment to read it. God bless you. :-)
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