Good morning,
The three darkest hours in history!
Most of our world right now feels that we are being flooded with “fake news” and we are all challenged by the confusion that it creates. Actually, this is nothing new, but it is a new way for our enemy to get us to trust our fears and forget that the God of the universe never lies about anything. Now that we are celebrating the “Good News” of our risen Savior, we need to remember that the closest followers of Jesus, while he was here on earth, were constantly confused about what God meant when he promised them a Messiah who would rule the whole earth. When Jesus was training his disciples he said things like, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.(Jn.10:11) Then he also said, "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,(v.14) The “fake news” that they had believed was that when the Messiah came he would immediately take charge of all the earth. From what they could see, Jesus kept doing all the wrong things if he was going to be the king. And then to make it even more confusing he told them, So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.(vs.15,16) They had no idea that there were many stages to this promise. They couldn’t see what God was doing was a process, they could only think of the outcome.
The Lord’s followers had no idea that the greatest battle that would ever be fought would not be on a battle field. It would be fought on a cross. The only way they could think about death was that it was a one way trip into the place of the dead. They knew all about the promise God made in Isaiah 53: 6, All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. But they didn’t know where that fit. It never occurred to them that God could do things that they couldn’t do. All they did was shake their heads when he told them, No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”(Jn.10:18) When Jesus came to the cross, he didn’t see this as the end of his life. Jesus new that what he would do then would change the rules that Satan had enjoyed for all of time to that point. The writer of Hebrews explains what Jesus knew. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.(Heb.2:14) Jesus knew that he would rise again over sin and death and the Devil. In those three dark hours as he hung on the cross, he did what he had to do to pay the full price for all of the sins of all of mankind for all of time. Jesus knew what he told us in Isaiah’s day when he said, When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.(53:11) Thank you Lord Jesus for being willing to lay down your life and taking it up again for our eternal benefit. Please Lord, help us to wait in faith for the next stage of your wonderful promise.
John 10:18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded."
Roy Wisner
