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

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!!!*******