DECEMBER 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY 03: JQ#1-33 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SUMMARY 03: JQ#1-33  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, as each new day unfolds Lord we ask for Your Light to shine in our day-to-day world and we thank You that like the consistent sunrise that brings light to the physical world Your Light will rise each day in our spiritual lives and bring with it the blessing of Your renewed Mercies and Grace! Thank You Jesus for Your coming to the earth and taking on flesh and being tempted in all ways such as we but yet You were without sin, and Your Victory over the world is the foundation of our Hope!!! Lord forgive me of all my worldly shortcomings and my daily iniquities and give me the self discipline to forgive others as freely as You forgive us!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus spoke His first words in Matthew’s Gospel and stated that the event unfolding between Himself and John the Baptist (the forerunner to the Messiah), as “Fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15) which established Jesus as the “Chosen One” and that John was the “one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight’” (Matthew 3:3) thereby Matthew documents that the “Coming One” had arrived! Only the Jewish community that had been reading the Talmud would understand the significance of Matthew being able to trace the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham through David so the Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew points to the fulfilling of God’s prophecies for the nation Israel and establishes through God’s Covenant Promises with Israel’s forefathers that Jesus was the rightful Heir to the throne of David. I believe that the nation was blinded to the Kingship of Jesus because of His Humble beginnings and the fact that Jesus was more like John the Baptist who had no earthly wealth or possessions therefore Jesus could not be the “soon coming King” like Israel’s previous great king, King David who possessed the entire kingdom of Israel and David had great warrior strength and all the possessions that King Solomon used to build the Great Temple of Solomon — John the Baptist had no strength except the Spirit of God and was calling Israel to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand”! The nation Israel and many people today simply cannot see how a cruel death on a cross at the hands of Israel’s religious rulers who had sentenced Jesus  to death as a criminal by the laws of the Jews could actually be the Messiah and that this “prophet” that did not possess any earthly treasures, and that this Jesus of Nazareth simply by His Death, Burial, and Resurrection would “fulfill all righteousness”!?!?!? Matthew started his documentation of Jesus fulfilling the Holy Scriptures by establishing in Chapter 1 that through His genealogy Jesus was the “rightful heir” to the throne of His father David! Any one of the events that Matthew records in his 28 Chapters about the life of Jesus could be considered significant but by recording all the events into a single Gospel we have a record of fulfilling of prophecies by a single man Jesus that defies all logic and odds and that if the odds of one man fulfilling all prophecies could be calculated that it would fit into the category of “counting [all] the stars if [we were] able” (Genesis 15:5) or imaging the number of descendants God promised a childless 90 year old man “I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of  the sky and as the sand which is on the seashore” {{have you ever tried counting stars or grains of sand??}} (Genesis 22:17) and these great numbers that are far beyond our counting or imaging the total sum of them point to God the Father for King David wrote: “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand!” (Psalm 139:18). Therefore by collecting all the events of Jesus that point to His being the “Son of God, God’s Chosen One, the Messiah” Matthew establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that it would be IMPOSSIBLE for any one person to fulfill EVERY Prophecy as Jesus did!!! Matthew established in the first part of Chapter 1 that Jesus is the rightful heir by birthright and in the last part of Chapter 1 Matthew records the fulfilling of early prophecies of the Messiah as Matthew writes: “the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows…Mary was betrothed to Joseph [and] before they came together, she was found with the child of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 1:18) Matthew explains: “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet {{Isaiah 7:14}}, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name ‘Immanuel’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:22-23) Matthew started at “the beginning” which leaves no room for anyone other than Jesus to claim the title of “God’s Son” and as the Apostle John (whom Jesus loved) wrote about Jesus: “The WORD became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) The Jewish community had been reading the prophecies of the Coming Messiah therefore they would be the first ones to recognize that Jesus was the earthly embodiment of “Immanuel” and truly God had sent His only begotten Son and by observing the Life of Jesus, we observe GOD HIMSELF!!!  — and the really GOOD NEWS is that now that Jesus has come, the Promise of God to Joshua becomes  His Promise to us for God assures us “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) and (Hebrews 13:5)  

DECEMBER 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY 02: JQ#1-33 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SUMMARY 02: JQ#1-33  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer    

JESUS, as I start this “Summary” of Your “Lessons” that You Taught us in order to reveal the Ultimate Truth of God the Father and to bring the “Light” of understanding to the “Ways of God”. I pray for the Holy Spirit to guide these Words written in this “JESUS Questions Summary” that they will be a Glory and Honor to the Blessed Trinity. May the Holy Spirit Bless all who read the Word that it will Reveal the Father, Glorify the Son, and Honor the Trinity of God in such a Way that our lives will be transformed. Give us the wisdom to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and Trust God for His Mighty Provisions, which God Freely Bestows on undeserving sinners not because of anything we have done, but simply because of God’s Holy Character and His Infinite Love for His Creation!     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus started His earthly Ministry at a point where Jesus is leading us to — that “point” in each of our lives that is the “turning point” in our Spiritual Journey and that “point” is always when we arrive at that time in our life when we see the “spiritual” need to enter into God’s Purpose for our lives and to yield control of our desires for the world to His Desire for our life — and at that “point”, we will follow the example of Jesus. Jesus directs us to that “point” as He began His Teaching and the first thing He did was follow the Will of God which was recorded by Matthew in Chapter 3 in which Matthew set the scene for us: “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 3:1) and then Matthew tied John the Baptist to the Holy Scriptures and the prophet Isaiah as Matthew declares that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah who had written 800 years earlier that the “forerunner” of the expected Messiah would be one that was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight’” (Isaiah 40:3 quoted in Matthew 3:3). When the people of Judea and the areas surrounding Jerusalem heard there was “one in the wilderness” that was preaching “Repentance for the kingdom of heaven was at hand” and that they should be “baptized”, it was at that point in their spiritual lives that the Holy Scriptures came alive for them and they could see the prophecies of old being fulfilled and “Then in Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to [John the Baptist] and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Matthew 3:5-6) Matthew also introduces the conflict Jesus would address regarding the religious rulers in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and Sadducees, as Matthew records that the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to John the Baptist at the Jordan where he was baptizing and John declared them to be a “Brood of vipers!” and warned them to change their ways and “flee from the wrath to come” and told them plainly “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8) And when John had their attention John set the scene for Jesus to appear when John declared “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11) Therefore when “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized” (Matthew 3:13) it was to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the forerunner of the Messiah (Isaiah 40:3) and of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom by Christ (See Isaiah 11:1-10)  which was why Jesus allowed Himself to be baptized by John in the Jordan and why Matthew records Jesus as saying to John about His Baptism “Permit [My Baptism] to be so now, for thus it is fitting for [the forerunner and the Christ] to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15) and by doing so to start His earthly ministry in which Jesus would begin teaching “repentance” and to point us to the “path of the LORD” — Jesus clearly stated later that we are to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) for our lives. Matthew also in this passage establishes that part of the mission of the Christ will be to address the problem of the religious rulers who have defiled the temple of God and have led the nation Israel away from following God and His Commandments!  John not only called them a “Brood of vipers!” but he warned them that Christ would “baptize [them] with the Holy Spirit and fire” and also Christ had “His winnowing fan in His hand, and He will throughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:7-12)  So Matthew uses John the Baptist and the prophet Isaiah to introduce the Christ and then Jesus steps on the scene and fulfills prophecy to begin His earthly ministry and sets the “Perfect Example” for all that would follow Jesus Christ to read the Holy Scriptures, repent, and to seek God and His Righteousness. 

DECEMBER 15 THE JESUS QUESTIONS SUMMARY 01: JQ#1-33 The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

 DECEMBER 15  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  SUMMARY 01: JQ#1-33  The Gospel of Matthew: A Study of the Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ 

LIVING FOR JESUS - Daily Prayer   

JESUS, my LORD and my REDEEMER — that You would be Obedient to the Father’s Will to be Sacrificed as the Lamb of God, Innocent of All Sin yet bearing the Burden of All Sin, ONCE-for-ALL, YOU SHED EVERY DROP OF YOUR INNOCENT BLOOD for the REMISSION OF SIN, and that You and the Father HAD PLANNED OUR SALVATION while we were yet sinners — that is the greatest MIRACLE of all. Lord You KNEW that man’s heart was deceitful and evil yet You and the Father KNEW that through the Great LOVE OF GOD that man’s heart that was hardened by sin could be softened by GRACE and we could then be sanctified by MERCY — Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been present with us from BEFORE the CREATION and will be with BELIEVERS throughout all ETERNITY! Eternity itself is a concept that stretches our limited intellect for we are still bound by our physical limitations which God established with our mortality. But, God continually stretches our understanding with Spiritual Concepts that point us to Knowing God and it is through Knowing God that we will be able to move from this limited physical realm we call mortal life to the unlimited spiritual realm wherein lies Everlasting Life which is only possible through BELIEVING IN GOD! God summed up this ETERNAL TRUTH OF GOD as He spoke to the prophet Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God for He will freely pardon. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow comes down from heaven, and does not return to it without watering the earth, causing it to bud and flourish, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread for the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to me void, but will accomplish My desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’” (Isaiah 55:6-11) For the complete TRUTH OF GOD that explains GOD from CREATION to REVELATION one need only read Isaiah 55 in full and then meditate on John 3:16 “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) These Isaiah and John passages explain what and why and then starting in Genesis and going through every book and chapter, Jesus and God’s Mercy and Grace are written in great detail. A good argument can be made from John 1 that Jesus “was with God in the beginning” (John 1:5) and that to resolve the problem of “darkness” in the world that God’s solution was recorded in Genesis 1:3 “Then God said,’Let there be light’…” The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the Light of the World and we should understand the importance of us being like Jesus when He teaches the Sermon on the Mount and then asked His first question: <JQ#1> “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?” (Matthew 5:13) Jesus then immediately states also “You are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) ——— Jesus IS the LIGHT of the World and by JQ#1 we know that Jesus wants us to be like Him ——— and Jesus with JQ#1 foreshadows that He will TEACH us how to be like Him and by the way we live our life we should be a “Light” to others and thereby we will “glorify [our] Father in Heaven”. This first Lesson then is that Jesus is going to Teach us how to live like Him and in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus uses His Divine Teaching Method  to get our attention and focus us on different aspects that give us Knowledge of God and His Eternal Kingdom  and then once we KNOW THE TRUTH we are to SHARE THE GOSPEL with those that are in “darkness” and by doing so we will fulfill the command of Jesus “So let your light shine before men…” with the single purpose of glorifying God!! 

DECEMBER 14 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 14  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 You are the LIGHT of the world, You are our HOPE and our SALVATION — O Blessed Day that You were sent by the Father in the form of a tiny baby boy — You      came into the darkness to lead us to the LIGHT of the Father by following the Star  of the Holy Spirit. Lord, our world has never been the same since you were born and through Your Life we have the Perfect Example how to Please God the Father. How does one say “Thank You” for a “Gift so Precious” as “Eternal Life” and the “Forgiveness of Sins”??? Lord Jesus, I pray for Your Spirit to fill me this day and everyday as I finish my days on earth and then “enter into Your Eternal Rest”!!!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, has been born into the world to a virgin and from His Birth to His Death Jesus fulfilled the Holy Scriptures that speak of God’s Chosen One. Jesus began His Earthly Ministry after being baptized in the Jordan River by the “Forerunner of Christ” John the Baptist, who upon seeing Jesus enter the baptismal waters declared “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”  Jesus had told John who had declared himself unworthy to baptize Jesus to “Permit it to be so now…” in order that the “Scriptures” would “be fulfilled” and then Jesus lived the Perfect Example of how to Live for God and then how to Die for God as Jesus was consistently Obedient to the will of the Father. The Death of Jesus on the Cross demonstrated God’s Great Love for the world and the great lengths to which God the Father and Jesus the Son were willing to go to in order to Provide Salvation for all mankind. Jesus willingly  went to the cross and Shed His Innocent Blood and now the Father has proven His Sovereignty by Resurrecting the Son on the Third Day!!! Jesus has Risen from the Grave and because HE IS RISEN — OUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!!! The Plan of Salvation has been Perfectly Completed and with The Penalty for our Sin being PAID IN FULL by the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, God now extends His Unlimited Favor in the form of GRACE  to all that Believe that Jesus is God’s Son!!! Matthew concludes his Gospel with a picture of what the world looks like today as Matthew records how the world reacted after Jesus showed Himself alive: “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:17-20) The Gospel of Matthew ends with those Words from Jesus and the world is left with one choice to make in order to inherit “Eternal Life” — that choice is simply “Do you Believe that “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)???

DECEMBER 13 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 13  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 You ARE the King of kings, the LORD of all lords, and all praise and glory are Yours and Yours Alone! Never has a leader sacrificed so much for His people  nor achieved so much for His people through sacrificing His own life — for there is NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN WHEREBY WE CAN BE SAVED FROM SIN!!!  You LORD have the WORDS of Eternal Life and You seek the souls of men to set them FREE — Lord forgive me my shortcomings and my transgressions — I pray that the Light you have placed in me will not be extinguished by my iniquities but will burn brighter as I Share Christ with others who are in darkness.     AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has suffered the cross and Jesus has executed, by His Obedience to the Father’s Will, the Master Plan of Salvation which Jesus had announced was His Purpose as He started His Earthly Ministry — Matthew records the first words of Jesus as He allowed John the Baptist who had been preaching the Coming of the Messiah —“Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) — for when John “tried to prevent” Jesus from being baptized by him, Jesus said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15) When John, the “forerunner” of Jesus, baptized the Messiah that had taken on flesh and had just declared that His Purpose was “to fulfill all righteousness” surely John could not imagine that the “fulfilling of all righteousness” would be concluded with crucifixion and the death of the Messiah whom John had just baptized!?!? John had seen Jesus come up out of the water after being baptized by him and Matthew writes; “behold, the heavens were opened to [Jesus the Messiah] and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:16-17) So Jesus was “baptized” by the “forerunner of the Chosen One” declaring that it was “to fulfill all righteousness” and God’s Spirit descended upon Him as God declared, “This is My Son…” and that is the Perfect Picture of the Resurrection which is the symbol of Baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as we through baptism identify ourselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, being raised to life eternal for “it pleased the Father that in [His Son Jesus] that all fulness should dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things…in the body of His flesh through death, to present [ourselves] holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.” (Colossians 1:19-22) After being baptized Jesus began His Earthly Ministry by rebuking the devil with the Scriptures when after 40 days of prayer and fasting He was tempted by Satan— Jesus’ first words as He then started His Earthly Ministry recorded by Matthew were “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Now Jesus has undergone the baptism of the grave after His death on the cross and He has been Resurrected by the Father and the tomb where He was laid is EMPTY, and an “angel of the LORD” had declared to those who saw the EMPTY TOMB first,  “He is not here; for He is risen” (Matthew 28:6) and as the women were going to tell the GOOD NEWS to His disciples, Jesus appeared to them and His first words as He starts His Heavenly Ministry is “REJOICE” (Matthew 28:9) It is interesting to note that Jesus outlines the Entire Gospel with just two words “REPENT” and “REJOICE” — and that He then adds our commission as Believers with this encouragement: “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren…they will see Me.” (Matthew 28:10) GOD PROMISED to SEND HIS SON and HE DID — and now the SON PROMISES that all who BELIEVE the GOOD NEWS will SEE JESUS ——— and WE WILL!!!!! 

DECEMBER 12 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 12  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, another day awakening to Your Grace is as dynamic as the bright sunshine pouring into our lives! Lord Jesus I thank you for this unmerited Favor You so Graciously bestow on sinners whom Your Holy Spirit has led to repentance — all that is required of us is that we believe that You ARE the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the earth because of the Father’s and the Son’s and the Holy Spirit’s  Great Love for the world. Let us  lift our voices in praise and thanksgiving for the Plan of Salvation and the Great Sacrifice of the Father and the Son for the Remission and Forgiveness of sin!    AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has but One thing left to accomplish and the Plan of Salvation that was conceived before the “foundation of the earth” (Revelation 13:8)  will be COMPLETE — The world and the evil intent of men have crucified the Son of God, they have made the Messiah, God’s Chosen One Suffer as no man has ever had to endure, Jesus was then nailed to a cross and crucified and when He yielded His Spirit unto the Father, His side was pierced with a spear to make sure He was dead! The badly mutilated dead body of Jesus was then put into a borrowed tomb and left with the intent to return on the first day of the week after the Passover to finish the burial preparation which had to be suspended because of the Sabbath. “On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priest and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir we remember while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day…” Pilate agreed and said, “‘You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.’ So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.” (Matthew 27:62-66)  So a large stone was rolled over the entrance, a seal was placed on the stone under the penalty of death from the Roman Authorities by the Romans soldiers that were placed at the tomb so that the dead body would not be stolen by the disciples of Jesus! All the actions of everyone recorded were all done because the crucifixion was successful and Jesus was “left for dead”.  But God Kept His Promise as prophetically recorded by David in Psalm 16:10 “You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psalm 16:10).  And then Isaiah recorded another Promise God had made to Abraham about his offspring being a “blessing to all the families of the earth” (Genesis 12:3)  which was being fulfilled by the Resurrection of Jesus  for Isaiah wrote this Promise of God about Jesus, “I have set You as a Light to the Gentiles, that You should be for Salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) Here is how it was recorded by Matthew: “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door…the angel…said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.’” (Matthew 28:1-6) The angel instructed the women to “go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead…and as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, ‘Rejoice!’ So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him.” (Matthew 28:8-9) All the Promises of God regarding the Plan of Salvation through the Death-Burial-and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son as recorded by the prophets of God in the Holy Scriptures IS NOW COMPLETE!!!   THE WORLD NOW HAS A RISEN SAVIOR who if we seek Him, HE will appear to us and tell us “DO NOT BE AFRAID, REJOICE!”. This account of The Life of Jesus, His Purpose and the Fulfilling of God’s Promises along with the Death/Burial/Resurrection of Jesus  IS the GOSPEL, THE GOOD NEWS and we are to “go quickly and tell”!!! Praise God for HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES!!!  

DECEMBER 11 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#33 “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

 DECEMBER 11  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, that You would go to the grave for me, that You, being the Very Son of God, would suffer the Agony of the Cross and Shed Your Innocent Blood for the Remission of my sin, LORD forgive me when I cannot understand with my limited intellect Your Infinite and Divine Wisdom. LORD, we are blinded by the world and when we see TRUTH in its purest form we believe it to be “Too good to be true” and we cower back into the shadows of our misunderstanding — Why indeed would The One True Holy God give His Only Begotten Son as the PERFECT Sacrifice as the Atonement for our sins??? LORD, I pray for the filling of Your Holy Spirit to understand Your Plan of Salvation that my vision of Your Peace will be One with Your Vision for both Jews and Gentiles to be Unified by the receiving of Your Holy Spirit into our lives, bringing first our families into Your Unity and then our communities so that all with be One Family of God! (See Acts Chapters 10 & 11)      AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

JESUS IS the SON OF GOD that was SENT BY THE FATHER to the world to take on “flesh” (John 1:14) and be “betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Matthew 26:45) with the single purpose that Innocent Blood would be the Atonement for Sin! Jesus said plainly, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28) And now as the crucified dead body of the Messiah, Jesus Christ has been put into a borrowed grave, all that remains in the fulfilling of prophecy is the waiting for Three Days for the Promise of Resurrection which can be traced by the prophecies throughout the Holy Scriptures and without any doubt we can see that what God has spoken, God has done! God’s Plan of Salvation is about to be “Fulfilled and Divinely Sealed” as the stone that had been rolled over the tomb and sealed by the ruling world power of men will be rolled away by the Power of God illustrating God’s Sovereignty over Life, Death, the Grave, and Eternity Itself! Man has done everything possible to thwart God’s Plan but once again God Proves Himself Sovereign by doing exactly what He had allowed to be written in Scripture thousands of years before the event to bring about the events exactly as God said they would unfold — The prophets wrote in Genesis how God called Abraham and gave him the Promised Son and required Abraham and Isaac “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2) We see Jesus being the obedient Son being played out as Abraham and Isaac travel to the mountain God had told them to go to and  “Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off…’I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back’ {A foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Jesus on the Third Day}…So Abraham took the wood [the cross] of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and [Isaac’s father]  took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together…Issac asked his father, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them [Abraham/Isaac & God-the-Father/Jesus-His-Son] went together. Then they came to the place which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and Abraham [God-The-Father] bound Isaac [Jesus] his son [His Son] and laid Isaac [Jesus] on the altar, upon the wood [cross]. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” (Genesis 22:4-10) It was at this point of Abraham’s obedience that God revealed His Purpose in testing Abraham and Isaac thusly as the “Angel of the LORD” said of Abraham’s and Isaac’s OBEDIENCE to the WORD OF GOD ‘For now I know you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” God then provided the lamb as promised and “Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” (Genesis 22:1-18) There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this incident was Divinely  Planned and is recorded in Scripture had not “Just Happened” as the world would have us believe — God had Planned from before the creation and showed by example through Abraham, the Father of Faith, and his obedient son Isaac that God had Planned to offer His Only Begotten Son as the burnt offering and Passover Lamb of God for the Atonement of Sin of All Mankind — God demonstrated His Commitment as a Holy God executing the Perfect Sacrifice as God had to “Forsake” even “His Only Son” as “God the Father” took the “burden” of the sin of the world and “laid it on [Jesus] His Son” and God offers HIS GIFT OF GRACE to all who “OBEY HIS WORD!”