Acts 17:3
Explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the
dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said.
Continuing from the last
post, Pastor Obie reminds us that we are only a week away from the Easter
Celebration for the Passion of the Christ; the suffering on the Cross at
Calvary for the atoning sacrifice of the sins of the world, but also the glory
of the Resurrection of the blessed Redeemer and Savior of the world, conquering
sin and death. This is the single most greatest event in human history. It
allowed for the greatest leap of mankind; from death and eternal damnation to
eternal life in Christ.
Acts 26:22-23 “To this
day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here
testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets
and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and
that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would
proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”
From the moment that Jesus
set foot in this world, Satan wanted to stop him. At Jesus’ “make it or break
it” moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed. If you are discouraged, it
you are at your lowest point, if you are at the end of your rope, or if you’ve
hit rock bottom, the greatest thing that you can do is stop and pray; fixing
your heart, mind and soul’s eye upon God.
In Luke 22:42,
Jesus prayed: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;
yet not my will, but yours be done.”
The cup that Jesus was
asking Father God to remove is the sin of the world (past, present, and
future). The late Pastor D. James Kennedy wrote: When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His
betrayal, He realized how horrible was the cup that He was about to drink
from—the cup of God’s wrath. This is why He prayed that the cup be passed from
Him, if possible. It was not possible, so He submitted to drink it. It was
placed to His lips, and willingly Jesus drank it down to the very dregs, and
the Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, became sin for
us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.”
Kennedy explains that after having been skewered to the cross,
lifted up naked before all the world to see, Jesus endured the shame and the
horror and the agony and the pain of the worst kind of human suffering.
Nevertheless, when Jesus hung upon the Cross, He became the very quintessence
of sin. For three interminable hours He hung there, until at last Christ
committed His soul into the Father’s hand. The physical sufferings of Christ
were so horrendous that we can hardly contemplate them at all. But it was the
spiritual suffering that killed Him. Every sin and sorrow was laid on Him; He
carried it all. Jesus saw all of that in the cup, and His soul recoiled against
it. This was one of the last temptations of Christ, and our Savior met it
magnificently. Jesus Christ paid for our sin in full.
Hebrews 9:22 “According
to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of
blood there is no remission.”
Pastor Obie elucidates that if
Jesus was swayed to avoid the Cross, Satan wins and humanity loses. If the
crucifixion’s atoning sacrifice could have been stopped at that moment, then
God’s redemption and Salvation plan for mankind would have been thwarted. But
in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ prayer was not done, saying “Not what I
will, but what you will”. And with those words, the battle for the Cross of
Salvation was won. Jesus didn’t turn back or hit the eject button. He pushed through His “make
it or break it” moment and was triumphant in conquering the grave. His victory
here at the Garden of Gethsemane made the victory at the Cross of Calvary
possible. It would cost Him His life, but death couldn’t hold Him. Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ laid down His will and submitted to the will of the Father.
Matthew 26:28 “For
this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins.”
Let's continue Pastor Obie's message on God's Will in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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