2023-11-17
Good Morning Dear Ones,
For human beings who have limited perspective in comparison to God’s, we have to struggle with understanding the nature of God’s glory and its actual impact on us. An example of this came up in the last Bible story written about in last week’s devotion. That’s where Mary Magdalene, in JN 20: 11-17, discovers the Lord Jesus is no longer in His grave vault and the heavy stone door lies open. She looks inside only to discover that the linens Christ’s body had been wrapped in were folded neatly where He had lain. Thinking the Man standing behind her was the gardener, she didn’t recognize Him until He spoke her name. Then, in vs 17, He says, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. God instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God!’” Afterward, He appeared to His disciples. Thankfully, Mary obeyed Him.
Now, we can switch over to LK 24: 1-8 to see what happened next. The two angels remained long enough for the disciples to see them; the latter were astonished at first. Then the angels reminded them, “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Then, the disciples remembered Christ’s words.
Some very interesting things happened while Jesus was on the cross that we should know about. Most of us know He was crucified and gave seven utterances during that time; we also know that that He was on the cross with one thief to His left and one to His right, each also being crucified on their own crosses. The man to Christ’s left was Gestas, “the impenitent thief,” and to Christ’s right was Dismas, “the penitent thief.” If we look in MK 15: 27-32 [ASV] leaves us with some rather interesting details. These men, Christ included, were insulted by passersby. In LK 23: 34, Jesus uttered, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Still not a solid believer, Dismas (to His right) said, “Don’t you fear God, Who is in this condemnation? For we justly deserve these things we endure, but He [referring to Jesus] has done no evil…Remember me when come into Your Kingdom” [LK 23: 42]. “If You are the Christ, free Yourself and us,” said Gestas. That is when Jesus uttered, to Dismas, “Truly I say, you will be with Me in Paradise” [LK 23: 43]. Then He uttered
Shortly thereafter, His last utterance, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani,” which means “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” in Aramaic [MK 15: 34]. As the account goes, someone held a vinegar-soaked sponge on a staff and offered it to Jesus. (Jesus had mumbled Elijah’s name several times). “Now leave Him alone and see if Elijah comes to take Him down,” he said. With a loud cry Jesus breathed His last. That is when there was an earthquake, and the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion who was in front of Jesus and saw how He died said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” [MK 15: 37-39].
So where had Jesus gone immediately after His physical death on the cross? We see He would descend into the depths and have been left with a lot of questions about that Underworld and other matters. Why did Jesus say, even for a second, that the Father had abandoned Him? Why is the Father allowing His Son to endure the judgment (penalty) for sin that we deserve? Can it be that the Father couldn’t endure what the soldiers et al were doing to His Son? Why was Jesus calling out Elijah’s name before His death on the cross? Why didn’t the Father simply translate Jesus, as He had done with Enoch and Elijah? So, many questions and maybe a few answers, which will be tackled in next week’s devotion.
PRAYER: O Lord, we still don’t know how to respond to Your glory and the way it surprised the people in the stories from the Bible. Not until we study the book of Revelation do we get to see the extent of what You write to us about it in your Word. We can’t help but realize there is still a lot for us to learn. We don’t even realize the extent to Your goodness, kindness, and faithfulness. Those of us who love You, are eager for the time when we will spend eternity with You. Yet, You will still have work for us to do for the rest of our earthly lives and eternity. Because we are never wasting our time when we are doing Your work, MT 6: 6 & 33. You want us to take time hovering over questions that come up. Some You have already answered; others You will answer later. But time spent learning about You is always a blessing! We thank and praise You in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: There are times when an observer might say, “Lynn, you are going down another rabbit hole!” But I beg to disagree. Lessons learned in my past don’t always yield all the answers I seek. But when God thinks I’m ready to receive something He wants me to know and write about, He reveals it to me. I see that as a blessing any Biblical researcher might be given, not just me. I’ve come across some information to share with you for next week on the poorly understood Underworld-part of which our Lord descended into directly after His physical death on the cross. It has caused me to believe there is nothing accidental about what happened or what will happen in which our Lord Jesus was involved. Needless to say, I become increasingly convinced that what we learn from God is designed to increase the intensity of our faith. Perhaps, this is in preparation for us to not lose our resolve when tempted by the evil one. Maybe it’s meant to guide us in the decisions we make as our earthly lives (which I believe are a series of tests) to see if our faith is the real thing. Only God knows for sure, why an individual is given specific challenges. What we do know is that God has no evil in Him [1 JN 1: 5]. He is completely wise and trustworthy! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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