DECEMBER 09 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 09  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 indeed we must come to You as did King David with a humble and contrite heart that has been washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb of God, seeking the Mercy and Grace that can only come from our LORD Jesus Christ!  Lord I pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that I may be a witness of Your Power to resurrect the dead in spirit, yes LORD, even a personal resurrection as You did with Lazarus, I pray my soul to be called forth from this grave that I have dug so deeply with my own iniquities and worldly lusts! Forgive me mine iniquities that I may rise to New Life in Christ that God has promised to those that believe on JESUS and that I may live for Christ with a Clean Heart O God! The veil of the temple was torn asunder with Your Death on the Cross at Calvary so that sinners such as I can come directly to God the Father and our bodies become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is now on HIS VICTORY LAP of the Master Plan of Salvation and with His Holy Work of the Cross being “finished” and complete, Joseph of Arimathea (a disciple of Jesus) had gone to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. The wisdom and sovereignty of God has been demonstrated by the Plan of Salvation being accomplished with what the “enemy” of God thought would be the ultimate victory over God but what man intends for evil, only God can turn to good and that is through His Absolute Power over His Creation! Satan thought that he had achieved a major coup for the forces of evil as the chief priests and elders had swayed the Jewish populace to cry “Crucify Him” and these evil worldly forces had been joined by the Roman Empire and with their world dominating power the Roman enemies of Israel had been complicit in executing the evil plot to get rid of Jesus. Just as the evil forces thought they had won when they heard Jesus cry out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” they mistakenly thought that their evil victory was complete when they observed the dead body of Jesus being hurriedly carried to a borrowed tomb. Their first clue that their usurped “power” had been ripped from them should have been the tearing of the veil in the Temple but they should have also remembered that this was the Passover and John the Baptist had seen Jesus and had declared “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”!  The crucifixion of God’s Holy Passover Lamb had happened on “Preparation Day” which signified the time of the First Passover when Moses received instructions to take a “lamb without blemish” … “then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight” and the “lamb” was to be “consumed with unleavened bread and bitterness” and “none of it shall remain of it until morning”  (Exodus 12:1-11) and this part of the Passover Feast has become known as the Preparation Day. By Joseph taking the body down with Pilate’s permission, the Roman government, the highest authority in Jerusalem (and the world) was in fact stating that Jesus was “officially” dead! The second clue for the congregation of Israel that Jesus was now the King and High Priest of Israel was that “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:52). The veil of the temple in Jerusalem separated the congregation from the Holy of Holies and only the high priest was allowed to pass once a year beyond that veil and seek forgiveness of the sin that separates us from God. The high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies once a year seeking atonement for sin. But on this Passover, JESUS, the Holy Lamb of God was put upon the alter of the cross and with His Sacrificial Death for the remission of sin, Jesus became our High Priest and with the veil being torn we now have access to God the Father, the Holiest of Holies, through His Son Jesus who died ONCE FOR ALL for the ATONEMENT of SIN!!! The enemy did not get to celebrate their empty victory which was ultimately signified by the “EMPTY TOMB”! The Gospel was soon to be complete as we can see that the Holy Scriptures from Prophecy to Revelation are all about God resolving the Problem of sin with the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who Provided Salvation through the Shedding of  HIS Divine Blood for  the Remission of Sin!!! The enemy should have quaked in their boots when they realized God was Serious about Resolving the Sin Problem and was willing to Accomplish His Master Plan of Salvation, even if God had to “forsake” His Only Begotten Son to make it “fair and legal” for all mankind! All that’s left for God to demonstrate His Absolute Sovereignty over Life and Death is for Him to Resurrect Jesus His Beloved Son from the borrowed tomb on the Third Day as God had foreshadowed with His declaration to Moses during the Exodus: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever’” (Exodus 19:9) and the LORD told Moses to “consecrate them… and let them be ready for the third day.” (Exodus 9:11,15) God had repeated this phrase several times to Moses just as Jesus had repeated several times that He “would be resurrected by God (His Father) on the third day” which could easily be paraphrased as “Be ready for you will believe I am the Son of God when I am resurrected on the third day!” Only those who have with their “spiritual lives” prepared themselves and are ready and believe that Jesus rose on the Third Day and HE IS COMING AGAIN will be able to SEE GOD!