DECEMBER 07 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, today I bring before Your Throne this uneasy spirit that I have been feeling for I know this cannot be of God for the Spirit of God is Peace and this spirit of uneasiness  is not bringing my soul peace — therefore I bring my life once again before You, Jesus Christ and pray for Your Spirit to overcome my thoughts and my desires so that my soul is again at Peace which can only come from the Holy Spirit as we yield to His Spirit, the Spirit of Unity and Peace.     AMEN

DECEMBER 07  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has just demonstrated that He is the Son of God because He DID NOT come down from the cross as challenged by the unbelievers to “save Yourself” by coming down from the cross to prove Himself to men, NO, Jesus proved Himself to His Father by staying on the cross, for suffering for those that had rejected Him, and His Final Act of Proof was that He stayed nailed to the cross yet He fulfilled His Purpose and saved the thief who was also being crucified with Jesus WHEN THE REPENTANT THIEF ACKNOWLEDGED JESUS AS LORD and the thief asked Jesus: “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” and Jesus replied, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:41-43) Matthew documents the LORD’S final earthly hours: “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:45-46)  Jesus proved Himself to His Father by staying on the cross, obedient to the Father unto death but now God is proving Himself to the Son and to the world that No One, nor anything, not even God’s Great Love for His Only Begotten Son Jesus will stay His Mighty Hand nor upset His Master Plan of Salvation!  Jesus proved He is the Son of God the Father by being Obedient and staying on the cross and God proved He is the Father God and that He Truly Loved the world and hated sin enough to RESOLVE the SIN PROBLEM and demonstrate to the world that beyond any question that God’s Purpose in becoming flesh in the form of His Only Begotten Son was to ADDRESS the SIN PROBLEM and to PROVIDE A SOLUTION IN THE FORM OF SALVATION THROUGH THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus to die on the cross, the Perfect and Acceptable Sacrifice of the Passover Lamb of God] that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We must as believers accept, as did the condemned thief on the cross, the Gift of Grace from God that was paid for by the Blood of Jesus on the cross at Calvary and then acknowledge that this Death of Jesus was the Solution to the Sin Problem for by His Death Jesus brought Eternal Life into the world for all who will call upon His Name for Salvation and we must believe that “… God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) And for those that reject Jesus and God’s Plan of Salvation Jesus said, “And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness  rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) God was serious enough about RESOLVING the SIN PROBLEM to develop a MASTER PLAN OF SALVATION and then GOD PROVED HIMSELF SOVEREIGN for who but God could use His enemies to actually defeat themselves as they became a major part of bringing about SALVATION by condemning Jesus to death by crucifixion!!! Again I can hear Jesus saying, “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:56) Now that Jesus has been Obedient to the Father’s Will and  stayed on the cross God has punished sin by the death of His Only Begotten Son on that cross, the Plan of Salvation has been EXECUTED to ABSOLUTE PERFECTION, the prophecies are fulfilled, and Jesus can claim VICTORY  as He cries out from the Cross: 

“It is finished!” (John 19:30) 

I can hear the Gavel of God’s Justice ringing loud and clear throughout the whole world as God declares “COURT ADJOURNED!!!”  

DECEMBER 06 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, I thank You for the Gift of the Holy Spirit to guide me through these latter years of my life and to help me realize it has never been about my personal glory but it is all about Your Glory. Lord, when I look at just Your last few minutes on the cross it is evident that indeed all men and especially me, fall short of Your Glory for I know I must be counted among those that let the world tempt me when I should be praying and resisting the world. Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner. All I desire is for others to see Jesus in me but I yield to my worldly fears and I keep jumping up and screaming “Look at me” and once again my weakness is exposed. Lord, You are the Light, the Truth, and the Way and I pray to seek Your Light, I pray that through Your Holy Spirit that I speak only Your Truth, and walk only in Your Way.    AMEN

DECEMBER 06  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is nailed to the cross and His garments have been divided up, He has been brutally beaten and scourged and His final minutes on this earth are at hand. One would think that at this point all anyone would think about would be getting through this extreme personal pain or even if anyone in this position even thought about doing something for others that they would be completely helpless to do anything at all, for after all, Jesus is in the greatest physical pain imaginable, He is literally nailed hands and feet to a cross, all His possessions have been taken from Him so what possibly could such a disadvantaged person do? Matthew describes the scene where the soldiers have just “divided His garments” and Jesus is hanging on the cross above them — “Sitting down, [the soldiers] kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.” (Matthew 27:35-38) There is so little we attempt to do for the kingdom because of our lack of faith in God because we let the world tell us that we never have enough to help ourselves therefore we never consider helping others. In describing this same scene we read from the Gospel of Luke, “Then one of the criminals…blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” (Luke 23:39)   This is so typical of our proclivity to question God just as Satan tested Jesus saying “If You are the Son of God…” and then we give God some test to pass in order to “prove Himself”!?!? How ridiculous it is to imagine that we as mere mortals need personal proof that God is God — because when we are asking God to “prove Himself to us [sinners all]” we fail to realize that without God’s Miracle Gifts of our God-given life and God-given intellect we would not have the ability to even ask questions in the first place!  The scene taking place at the cross illustrates the entire Gospel as Jesus demonstrated in these three crosses a summary of the entire Bible. Here it is: (1) Jesus has come into the world to save the world but is rejected by His own. (2) Those in power sought to retain their power therefore they condemned the innocent to protect their guilt instead of accepting God’s leadership. (3) Jesus stated that the Father would grant eternal life to everyone that believed that Jesus, God’s Only Begotten Son, was sent by the Father to Save sinners from eternal hell. (4) Jesus then stated that He was not here to condemn but to Save the world. (5) God never gives up on trying to draw us to Himself. (6) Jesus Taught time and time again that it is our “Faith in God” that is the Key to our Salvation (7) Jesus has the Power to Forgive sins, even if He and the sinner are both nailed to a cross with absolutely no other resources! We see this played out as Luke records: “But the other[criminal], answering, rebuked [the blasphemer], saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’” (Luke 23:40-42) It was at this point that Jesus proved it is not a product of our circumstances that equals our Salvation but rather it is our Confession that Jesus is Lord that leads to our Salvation for even though Jesus was breathing some of His lasts breaths on earth and having been beaten and nailed to a cross, His Spiritual Powers were not diminished in the least as Luke records the Power of God to Save: “And Jesus said to [the repentant one], ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:43) There is nothing that the world can do to Jesus to prevent Him from forgiving those that call upon the Name of Jesus as Lord and Savior because the Power is not with men but with God!  The thief on the cross was guilty and was nailed to a cross — he could not go to church, he could not tithe, he could not be baptized, physically he could accomplish nothing — but spiritually he could recognize his eternal need for Jesus and recognize Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and Jesus proved Himself despite all the limitations the world had placed on the Son of God !!! 

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO SAVE ALL WHO CALL UPON THE NAME OF JESUS FOR SALVATION! 

*******There is no worldly circumstance that prevents us from acknowledging our spiritual need for a Savior and no worldly circumstance will prevent God from being Faithful and Just to Forgive us our sins ——— we CAN have Eternal Fellowship with God for God Desires that we share Eternal Life with Him in His Eternal Paradise!!!*******  

DECEMBER 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Lord, Precious Lamb of God forgive us when we fall back into the world that You came to free us from! Lord, You said we are to be “in” the world but not “of” the world and I pray for discernment to know the difference that I may witness to Your Glory and seek none for myself. Jesus, so often I find myself saying things and dropping Your Name and have missed the  True Purpose of calling on Your Holy Name for it is never about promoting self! Lord, guide me in Your Light and keep always in my heart Your Truth that when I speak that You will be heard and Your Peace will be with men.    AMEN

DECEMBER 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is about to take His Place on the cross, one single event that will forever change the course of history as no single event had ever done or will ever do!!! When the written history of mankind is reviewed there will always be the Bible and the story of Salvation and this single event of Jesus being crucified on the cross has no comparison in all the other books ever written in the history of the world. Time has been divided into AD (anno Domini) and BC (before Christ) with AD being taken from the full original Latin phrase “anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi (meaning “in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ”) so as long as “time is recorded” then the life of Jesus will have to be acknowledged because nothing can change the Truth that for these several thousand years now that the life of Jesus has been the world standard for keeping a record of world history. All the libraries of the world would have to be purged and every Bible destroyed just to begin trying to refer to life without referencing Jesus Christ! That single event will NEVER happen again and therefore no single individual will ever accomplish what Jesus did in 33 years on this earth. The fact that Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion which was prophesied hundreds of years before crucifixion was even used was another historical fact that will never be reproduced in the history of mankind because God and only God knows the future and has complete control of the events that occur, therefore even if a great conspiracy arose and had the following of all men, then those living at the beginning of the conspiracy would have to somehow come up with a scenario that a 1000 years after they wrote the details of the conspiracy that the conspirators would have to invent something that would somehow use the enemies of the conspiracy to prove the validity of the conspiracy? This scenario of enemies being used to prove themselves wrong is ludicrous but it is exactly what happened with Jesus Christ BECAUSE his VIRGIN BIRTH, LIFE, DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION were predicted thousands of years earlier and were accomplished not by those who were following Him but were brought about by those who could only be classified as being against Him, why else would they sentence Him to death on a cross just as it had been written of the Jewish Messiah when they were trying to prove that Jesus was “NOT” the Messiah? Today some will claim Jesus is a myth but never in the history of the world did the world change the way time is recorded because of a “myth” — Jesus walked the earth, was a Jew, and was crucified on a cross BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF GOD!!! Matthew recorded this single event with simple detailed Truth: “And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. ‘They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing the cast lots.’” (Matthew 27:33-35) This single event has been recorded in every single Bible ever published and is still being put into print today. The Bible has sold more copies than any other book in history and will never be overtaken as the number 1 selling book of all time so therefore there NEVER will be a single event, spoken of by acknowledged prophets that will occur thousands of years after the prophecy and that event will come about exactly as written by the prophet yet accomplished by the actions of those opposing the prophecy — and then the event, though unpopular as it was with the world powers at the time, would  be written and published year after year and the world powers could not suppress it — these facts surrounding this single event of Jesus and His Death on a Cross are in itself the PROOF that JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD!!! 

DECEMBER 04 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord there will never be enough words to express the gratitude that I should utter to Praise God for His Faithfulness, His Mercy, and His Grace. Lord we do not know the depth of True Love that can only be reached by knowing God, believing in His only Begotten Son, and accepting the Divine Gift of the Holy Spirit that God Himself promised would take up Eternal residence within each of us. There is no concept that our limited intellect can grasp that can explain the ETERNAL so why would we be so arrogant as to say that we can be grateful for what we cannot understand — well, the answer lies in FAITH in the ETERNAL, for FAITH is the KEY to the ETERNAL so my prayer is to grow in FAITH that my THANKSGIVING may HONOR GOD, HONOR THE SON, and HONOR THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!     AMEN

DECEMBER 04  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, abandoned by His disciples, declared “innocent” by Pilate, rejected by His own people for the criminal Barabbas, and has now been “delivered…to be crucified.” (Mathew 27:26) Everything that was prophesied by Isaiah about the Suffering Servant is now in full motion and Jesus is about to undergo the preparation of the Passover Lamb where God instructed Moses on the Eve of the nation Israel’s deliverance from their slavery in Egypt: “Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying…speak to all the congregation of Israel…every man shall take for himself a lamb…without blemish, a male…then the whole congregation of Israel shall kill it…take the blood…put it on the doorposts [of each household that desires God’s Deliverance and obeys His Instructions to us]…It is the LORD’S PASSOVER.” (Exodus 12:1-11) Jesus is about to undergo what Isaiah described as, “Behold My Servant…His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men…He is despised and rejected by men…” (Isaiah 52:13 - 53:3) as Matthew records that Jesus was “scourged” and delivered “into the Praetorium” and the “whole garrison [of soldiers]” gathered around Jesus “And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head…they spat on Him…and struck Him on His head…and led Him away to be crucified.” (Matthew 27:27-31) We cannot imagine the humiliation and physical pain Jesus endured during the scourging received at the hands of the soldiers but it could not have been worse than the spiritual pain Jesus felt when He knew His last drop of Blood was shed and the Sacrifice was drawing to its completion and that God the Father must let His Son “pay the penalty for sin” which God had declared with the first Adam as “DEATH” and in order for God to be FAIR AND JUST to ALL, Jesus must suffer the pain of “DEATH” and JESUS being the ONLY ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE must SUFFER AND DIE ALONE which meant that God the Father must let Jesus the Son take ALL SIN UPON HIMSELF and GOD, BEING HOLY, COULD NOT LOOK ON SIN THEREFORE GOD THE FATHER MUST “FORSAKE” HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON AS THE BURDEN OF ALL SIN IS PLACED UPON JESUS!!!   Jesus has asked all His previous Questions to man in order for us to understand God but the last Question Jesus asked was to God Himself in order for man to understand how serious God is about the “Remission of Sin”!!!  Through God’s Action in abandoning Jesus on the cross at the point of Death, GOD THE FATHER demonstrated HIS JUSTICE ——— and when JESUS THE SON was “Resurrected on the Third Day” God demonstrated His Grace and Mercy. God has kept every PROMISE He has made to us and we like Abraham having “received the promises… conclude that God [IS] able to raise [ALL] up, even from the dead”! (Hebrews 11:16-19)  God indeed “forsook” Jesus on the cross but we should understand that God’s Actions toward Jesus on the Cross was the Completion of the Master Plan of Salvation and demonstrated God’s Grace and LOVE toward mankind and proved the level of Commitment God has in Keeping His Promises!!! Jesus with His Last Question on the cross was still Teaching for if we look at the Question Jesus asked of God with the concept of Faith in GOD’S POWER OVER DEATH AND THAT GOD WILL RESURRECT US FROM THE DEAD IF WE TRUST AND BELIEVE HIM, we can recall the words Jesus said just before Lazarus was resurrected from the grave as Jesus prayed to the Father: “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” (John 11:41-42) Maybe it would not be a stretch then to paraphrase Jesus and say for certain that “God so loved the world {{that He forsook His Only Begotten Son, the Passover Lamb, on the cross}} that whosoever believed in [JESUS THE SON OF GOD] {{that even if death takes us that God will resurrect us}} and that we shall {{have our sins forgiven and shall}} not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 {{paraphrased}})  “Do you believe God would forsake His Son for sinners like us?”   

DECEMBER 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, my Lord, my God, Praise be the Name above all names, Jesus, the One that became flesh and Sacrificed His Innocent Sinless Life to set this sinner free! Lord Jesus, You alone are worthy of the praise of men and may my lips be filled with Praise for God’s Only Begotten, who being Obedient Unto Death achieved the Ultimate Victory over death, sin, and the grave.    AMEN

DECEMBER 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, after being betrayed by Judas in the garden of Gethsemane, is standing alone in front of Pilate having been brought there by the chief priests who had held an illegal meeting to condemn Jesus. Pilate therefore is trying to determine if Jesus is deserving of death but can find no cause to pass the sentence of death onto this innocent Man standing by Himself and making no defense. Pilate went so far as to offer (as is the custom of the governor’s feast held during the Passover) to release a prisoner to the Jews. “Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, ‘Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?’” (Matthew 27:15-17) When the cries from the Jews for the release of Barabbas was made to Pilate he said, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” (Matthew 27:22) It was at this point that God’s Master Plan of Salvation was again demonstrated, for just as God Himself had killed an innocent animal thereby establishing the Substitutionary Sacrifice where God would accept Innocent Blood for the covering of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, here again the sinner [Barabbas] is being set free and Jesus Christ is the Substitutionary Sacrifice who will shed His Innocent Blood to cover the sin of His people  who have rejected and denied Him thereby disobeying God who had earlier in the earthly ministry of Jesus declared: “This is my Son … listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35) Pilate then washed his hands of the whole affair and declared “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person.” (Matthew 27:24) The Jews that had cried “Crucify [Jesus]” and “release Barabbas”  cursed themselves and future generations when they responded to Pilate’s comment about shedding “the blood of this Just Person” when they said, “His blood be on us and our children.” (Matthew 27:25) The facts have been established that (1) Jesus is standing alone (2) Jesus is innocent and is not deserving of death (3) the sinner Barabbas will be set free because Jesus will die in his place (4) it is established by the highest authority that Jesus is a “just Person” and that Innocent Blood will be shed (5) the people who are rejecting Jesus as the Son of God have passed their own sentence of personal guilt and condemnation on themselves when they declared “His blood be on us…” (6) Jesus is recognized at His trial as the “King of the Jews” and as “Jesus Christ” (7) and finally, the death of “Jesus Christ” would be by “Crucifixion” (Matthew 27:11-25) The die has been cast and Matthew writes: “Then [Pilate] released Barabbas to them; and when [Pilate] had scourged Jesus [Pilate] delivered Him to be crucified. (Matthew 27:26) There can be no doubt by reading Matthew’s account that Jesus was doing this completely on His own — this fact will be made painfully clear as Jesus is on the cross and at the point of death, asks His Final Question of God the Father — JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46) Could it be made any clearer that Jesus and ONLY Jesus had to pay the penalty of sin and He did it ENTIRELY ALONE !!! For at the point of death, God the Father had to endure all by Himself the Ultimate Pain required in His Master Plan for the Remission of Sin because to demonstrate His Justice, God the Father had to “Forsake” His Only Begotten Son because being God Most High and in pure Holiness, God the Father could not look upon any sin, MUCH LESS ALL SIN, which had been placed upon JESUS CHRIST the Holy Spotless Passover Lamb of God!!!  When Jesus cried, “It is finished” we must realized that the Holy Trinity had COMPLETED the Master Plan of Salvation: Because the Spirit was DENIED, God’s Only Son was CRUCIFIED and the Loving Holy Father CRIED!!!  It was the toughest thing imaginable for the Father to allow His Son to be killed but it was worse that IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT HE WAS FAIR AND JUST THAT GOD THE FATHER HAD TO TURN HIS BACK ON JESUS HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON AND LET HIM DIE ALONE ON THAT CROSS — OR ELSE THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH!!!  When you look at the death of Jesus from this perspective you can have full confidence that God will do everything possible to provide salvation to even the worst sinner — all we have to do is accept the Father’s Gift of Grace!!!

DECEMBER 02 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 02  LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS You are the LORD of ALL and Your Words are the only words of Eternal Life and as my heart walks daily in Your Word my soul feels the spiritual warmth of the Light of the Son as as my body feels the physical warmth of the bright sunshine coming down from the heavens. Lord it is at these precious moments that I know Your Joy and my complete desire is to be “one with You and the Father”!  Forgive me where I fail in my daily walk through this world as I let my selfish soul slip and once again I am “of the world” and not just “in the world” — I know this world is not my home so protect me from myself and from the evil one, both of which want to keep me living in the flesh instead of living in Spirit and in Truth. Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done!     AMEN

DECEMBER 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has shared His Last Passover Supper with His disciples and Judas has betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver just as foretold in Scriptures. When Jesus was led away to the courtyard of the high priest for a mock trial all His disciples “forsook Him and fled” and even Peter who had sworn to be with Him even unto death had denied Him thrice, again just as Jesus said it would happen. Jesus even though He was innocent, was wrongfully declared guilty and the words of Isaiah the prophet about the Suffering Servant were being fulfilled with each blow that Jesus received in that dark and evil courtyard. The physical pain Jesus had to endure was horrendous but we cannot imagine the spiritual pain that Jesus was experiencing as He knew that this “Burden” was His to bear and that He must bear it alone! In the 3rd grade class that I have the privilege to teach, a bright 3rd grader asked me during the lesson of Abraham being instructed by God to sacrifice Isaac on the mountaintop, “Why would the father kill the son?” And at that point the Holy Spirit took over the class and I have never been “spiritually” the same since then. The immediate answer took us all the way back to Genesis when God Himself spoke His first command to Adam, “And the LORD GOD commanded the man saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) These two verses establish some core principles that give us an insight into how God has planned for the world and mankind to progress: (1) God gives us instructions that set forth the moral standard we are to live by (2) God makes it very clear that our actions carry with it a consequence (3) God establishes the doctrine of “Freewill” which in today’s modern vernacular is called “Choice”! What we fail to recognize however is that God is establishing His Character with which He will be faithful to display His character fairly and equally to all mankind, forever! Another nuance which is always passed over is what A. W. Tozer in his spiritual gem of a book “The Knowledge of the Holy” writes that even though we are free to choose our actions that God has reserved the sovereign right to determine the consequence of our choice! The answer to “Why the father would kill the son?” can be found in God’s faithfulness — God established in Genesis that “sin” is when we “disobey God” and the “penalty” for sin is “death”! God demonstrated when Adam and Eve disobeyed God that God “sacrificed” an animal (I would bet it was a lamb, i.e. the forerunner of the Passover Lamb) and “covered” Adam and Eve’s shame (guilt) thereby establishing the precedent of “Substitutionary Sacrifice” and the “covering of sin” with the “shedding of innocent blood” — the TRUTH OF GOD is that God had a Plan of Salvation before the foundations of the earth, and the Plan of Salvation would be a “Substitutionary Sacrifice” of His Only Begotten Son who would “shed His Innocent Blood” for the “remission of [ALL] sin” thus fulfilling the requirement established by God Himself with the first act of disobedience that sin must be punished by death and the shedding of innocent blood. The entire Bible is God demonstrating His Faithfulness and His Justice regarding this Initial Principal of God and is summed up by Jesus His Son as the Son explains the “motive” of the Father and “Why the Father would kill the Son” — “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. “ (John 3:16) and … “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”  (John 15:13-14) Jesus the Son is laying down His life for the same reason the Father has allowed it to happen, and in the last words of Jesus to His disciples Jesus told us why He and the Father “love” the world — “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You love Me may be in them, and I in them.”  (John 17:25-26) and lastly: “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” (Hebrews 9:22) 

DECEMBER 01 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

DECEMBER 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46)

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I start today with another prayer of praise for I think of my life and where I could have ended up had it not been for Your Guiding Light in my life! Indeed I can remember seeking darkness and was not aware that seeking darkness would lead to no good in my life and today I look around at what Your Love has done and the fruit that Your Love has produced in my life and now I can see that all the “good” in my life has come because I have started walking in Your Light. Lord I pray to be always in Your Light and that my life will continue to bear good fruit, then on That Day, God will look upon my life and see Jesus in it and say, “Well done my GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT!”    AMEN

DECEMBER 01  THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is now standing alone in the midst of His accusers and He has spoken only the TRUTH OF GOD that JESUS IS the Christ and that JESUS IS the King of the Jews and both statements are being used against Him in their effort to take His Innocent Life. Jesus has been taken to Pilate and amid accusation upon accusation Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah about the Messiah: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) Matthew records that Jesus “answered [Pilate] not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly” (Matthew 27:14) but had Pilate known the Scriptures he would have understood that he was part of God’s Plan that had been put into writing 800 years earlier as Isaiah wrote about the Messiah, King of the Jews and that Jesus was the Passover Lamb and the Ultimate Truth of God was that Jesus dying on the cross would be the culmination of the Plan of Salvation — yes if Pilate had known the TRUTH of God that Jesus IS the Son of God, the Messiah, the Passover Lamb, and the King of the Jews then Pilate would have truly “marveled” that he was just one little part of prophesy and with the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of God’s Only Begotten Son that God’s Plan of Salvation would be completed and the Ultimate Victory over sin would be accomplished! But Pilate did not know Scripture and he listened to the voice of evil and even though Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, Pilate pardoned Barabbas a known notorious criminal — this is the condemnation of our modern society, we do not know Scriptures and we do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God (billions of people today do not believe God has a Son!) and we listen to the “high priests” speak evil and demand the death of Jesus yet deep in our hearts we know that Jesus has done nothing deserving of death. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent “When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising (against Jesus), he took water and washed his hands before the multitude (calling for the death of Jesus), saying, ‘I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.’” (Matthew 27:24) And the people that day condemned themselves just as our world condemns ourselves as we deny Jesus is the Son of God: “And all the people answered and said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children.’” (Matthew 27:25) This could have been one of the first times you could hear the cliche — “Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it!”   The fact that Jesus is facing this condemnation alone, having been abandoned by all his disciples is just a foreshadowing of His last Question uttered from the cross, JQ#33  “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  (Matthew 27:46) ——— as it says repeatedly in Psalms “Selah - think on this!”