This week, Michael writes: Our Life here on earth is tenuous … we’re all hanging on by a thread. This earthly life is but a vapor … a nanosecond in eternity. James 4:14 says, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” We who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God have something the world does not have ... the hope of Heaven and of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
Jesus knew that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and the Scribes wanted to kill him. He had said to them, you are like white washed sepulchers, You’re a graveyard with clean manicured pristine lawns and elaborate tombstones on the outside, but inside you’re nothing but dead men’s bones. You are of your father the devil. He was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies. You speak your father’s native language.
Jesus had said to His disciples, “you will be hated and betrayed because of my name. They will deliver you to the worldly authorities to be condemned by their unjust laws in their unjust courts”. In Matthew 24, Jesus warned them about the end times. If we think the world is in darkness now, the end times will be like nothing they had ever experienced. Jesus said, when you see these signs of the end times, look up, for my return is near.
In the upper room, Jesus said to his disciples, “remember what I’ve done for you after I’m gone, and this will keep you going. When you keep your eyes upon me, you will be able to endure until the end.” He took the bread and the cup and said, “when you eat this bread and drink of this cup, you will remember the significance of my death as the sacrificial Passover lamb and you will remember my innocent blood that was shed for your redemption. This cup is the new covenant of my blood which is shed for you… for the remission of sin.
After the Lord’s supper, Jesus took his disciples to the edge of the Garden of Gethsemane. Then He went into the garden with Peter, James, and John to pray. He said to them, “watch and pray that you don’t enter into temptation”. Jesus prayed and in anguish cried out three times, “If there be any other way, please take this cup (of sin, death, condemnation, and separation) from me.” Then he finished his prayer saying, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”
When the authorities came to arrest Jesus, Judas identified him by kissing him on the cheek betraying his Lord. At His trial, they said to Him, if you are the Christ tell us. They asked him, Are you the Son of God? He answered, yes, I am. They rose up with indignation against Him because He claimed that He was the Son of God and therefore He claimed that He was equal with His Father, God. They said, what other reason do we have to put him to death?
When Jesus appeared before Herod, He would not even answer his questions as prophesied as a sheep dumb before his shearer. Then the Jewish leaders took Him to the Roman authorities to appear before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. When Pilate said to the crowd, what shall I do to punish this innocent man? They cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate asked Jesus, are you the Son of God. Jesus answered, “Thou hast said it.” Pilate said, this innocent man has done nothing to deserve death. But the people shouted, his blood be upon us. Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd to show that he did not approve of Jesus’ crucifixion. But then he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.
Let's continue Micheal message on the risen christ in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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