INJUSTICE ALWAYS LOSES

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Those who had arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against You?”

But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to Him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

“He is worthy of death,” they answered.

Then they spit in His face and struck Him with their fists. Others slapped Him and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

Matthew 26:57-68

They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against Him, but their statements did not agree.

Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against Him: “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?”

But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked Him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at Him; they blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took Him and beat Him.

Mark 14:53-65

Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest.

The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating Him. They blindfolded Him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” And they said many other insulting things to Him.

At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe Me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

They all asked, “Are You then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from His own lips.”

Luke 22:54, 63-71

Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound Him and brought Him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.

“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard Me. Surely they know what I said.”

When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped Him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

“If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike Me?”

Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

John 18:12-14, 19-24

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever encountered someone who was just out to get you?

It seems there are always these kinds of people in the world, people who look to stir up trouble and target other people for evil acts.

These kinds of people are usually very dedicated to succeeding, so much so that they will do whatever it takes to get their way and bring someone down. Unfortunately we need look no further than our nation’s political behavior and the media to see this behavior at its worse.

If a certain party rises to power, you can be sure the other side will work overtime to discredit anything their opponent does with the media as a willing accomplice to shape public opinion toward their cause. Presidents and other elected officials are slandered regularly. Nominees for positions in the White House Cabinet and Supreme Court nominees often find fabricated accusations waged against them as innuendos are treated as if they are the gospel truth. More and more, a person is guilty before they are found innocent, tried and convicted in the court of public opinion before they are offered a fair chance to clear their name from falsehoods raised against them.  

There is little doubt that we are living in a time of unbelievable injustice and it’s systemic, especially in politics.

This matter of falsely accusing to discredit people, or better yet eliminate them altogether (cancel culture, anyone?) is not just a modern day phenomena. For as we see in today’s passages, systemic injustice ranges all the way back to biblical times, even impacting Jesus, the very Son of God Himself.

In this instance, we see court of the Jewish religious authorities as the source of injustice. The men who sat on the council of the Sanhedrin were supposed to be the experts when it came to God and His word. And yet, not one of them would turn to God to validate whether or not Jesus was who He said He was: the Messiah, the Son of Man, and the Son of God. Instead, they assumed Jesus was a liar and blasphemer or at least refused to believe He was otherwise out of their jealous envy for the successes He was having in ministry work.

Rather than see Jesus as a partner in doing the work of God, the members of the Sanhedrin instead vilified Jesus and saw Him as their hated enemy. Blinded by their extreme dislike of Jesus, which also served to harden their hearts, they refused to even try to see Jesus for who He truly was. Instead, they tried to find anything, even a lie to bring charges against Him.

And so Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, a totally innocent man arrested for no reason. This was painfully evident as people tried to come forward with allegations against Him. It must have been comical and sad at the same time as man after man came forward to accuse Jesus, one story contradicting the next. The Jewish religious authorities had to be more than a little bit embarrassed about the spectacle until someone said something that gave them hope, a statement that offered them the opportunity to capitalize. For we read where some of Jesus’ accusers said this:

“We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’”

The high priest and the rest of the council membership immediately looked to Jesus, expecting some form of rebuttal but Jesus remained silent. It was too much for the chief priest to handle for we find Him first asking Jesus if He was going to respond to the accusations brought against Him. When Jesus stayed quiet, the high priest, obviously aggravated, asked a question of His own:

“I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

To which Jesus replied:

“You have said so,”

And then followed up it up with:

“I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus had not hesitated to pronounce Himself as the very Messiah the prophets had foretold, the long awaited Savior God would send to protect and deliver His people. But the Chief priest and his fellow members of the Sanhedrin refused to believe it or even seek God for validation. Instead, they simply charged Jesus with blasphemy and then abused Him, something they obviously were waiting the chance to do.

Instead of welcoming and honoring the very Son of God, they instead spit on Him, blindfolded Him, and then struck Him with their fists while mocking Him to predict who was hitting Him. When arrested Jesus reminded His disciples that legions of destroying angels were at His disposal to summon but this wasn’t a time for that. The injustice Jesus was experiencing was just the cutting edge of what was yet to come, events that were necessary for God’s plan of bringing salvation to all mankind to come to life.

For no matter what man tries to do in deceit, God will ultimately have His way. His will is going to be done and so too will His judgment on those who willingly sin against Him. In the end translation, injustice never really triumphs for God has and will always reign supreme and be victorious.

Jesus would seem defeated by those who sought to eliminate Him only to be resurrected in glorious, miraculous power after three days in the tomb.

Today, God still delivers people who are victimized by evil falsehood and slander. Rest assured of this the next time someone tries to attack you unjustly.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

FULFILLMENT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture Me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest Me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.

Matthew 26:54-56

“Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture Me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”

Then everyone deserted Him and fled.

A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Mark 14:48-52

Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the Temple guard and the elders who had come there to get Him, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs, as though I were an outlaw? I was with you in the Temple every day, and you did not try to arrest Me. But this is your hour to act, when the power of darkness rules.”

Luke 22:52-53

Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples.

So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am He,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)

When Jesus said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Again He asked them, “Who is it you want?”

“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.

Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He. If you are looking for Me, then let these men go.” This happened so that the words He had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave Me.”

Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound Him and brought Him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

John 18:2-9, 12-13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The preliminary drama was over.

Judas had kissed Jesus, signaling to the arresting crowd with him as to who they should take into custody.

Peter, one of Jesus’ most faithful disciples, had cut off the ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant, only to have Jesus pick up the ear and miraculously put it back in place as if it had never left Malchus’ head in the first place.

Now, it was time for Jesus to be seized and led to hearings, first before Annas, as we read in John’s Gospel, and then to Caiphas, the high priest for that year and the head of the Sanhedrin. But before being led away, Jesus had some parting words for His captors and onlooking disciples. Look again at what He said here:

“Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture Me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest Me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

“…this is your hour to act, when the power of darkness rules.”

Jesus’ asked valid questions to the crowd who had come to detain Him. You can almost sense He is wondering out loud, “Why now?”

Many of those present had sat and listened to Jesus teach in the temple courts. Over and over again, He was ripe for the picking if someone felt He needed arrested but nothing happened.

So why didn’t it?

Because the proper time had not come, the time predicted by the prophets, the hour when darkness would rule.

This was that time of fulfillment.

So what had the prophets written anyways?

Isaiah in particular had spent a lot of time foretelling the great suffering Jesus would endure, a suffering that would soon come to be. The prophet Zechariah prophesied about how Jesus’ followers would scatter and indeed we read that as He was arrested, that’s exactly what happened as Peter, James, and John fled the scene.

God’s word is perfectly true and we need to keep in mind that the prophets were simply messengers for God. They weren’t speaking words fabricated by themselves but rather reciting and writing words given by God Himself. And if these words foretold about the future, then rest assured they would come to be at the appointed time.

Pertaining to Jesus’ arrest, God has spoken out many years before Jesus’ fateful day in Gethsemane’s garden, the day the wheels of execution were put into motion. Nothing that happened afterwards should have been a surprise.

For Jesus was the key player in God’s plan of redemption and salvation for all mankind, and before that plan could come to fruition, Jesus had to go through the fulfillment of God’s will, drinking the bitter cup of judgment as He bore the consequences of all sinners so they might have a chance to experience eternal life which was nothing less than a fulfillment in its own right as God’s promise, spoken through the mouth of His Savior Son, was about to come to life:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

 

THE PROPER USE OF A SWORD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested Him.  With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Matthew 26:50-53

The men seized Jesus and arrested Him.  Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

Mark 14:46-47

When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered, “No more of this!”

And He touched the man’s ear and healed him.

Luke 22:49-51

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

John 18:10-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

During any military operation, there is usually a signal given to start things. Before a missile is launched or shot fired, some order is usually given either verbally or through some pre-determined sign.

As we continue to journey with Jesus through the events that led up to His death, we saw yesterday how a signal was used to identify the man the armed crowd was to arrest. The forces within the arresting crowd had been sent by the Jewish religious authorities - the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders - who were interested in one thing and one thing only: eradicating Jesus altogether. And so they made a pact with Judas, one of Jesus’ chosen twelve disciples. In exchange for 30 silver coins, Judas had agreed to betray his Master and ensure He was brought before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious high court, for trial.

And so after Jesus had finished praying in Gethsemane’s garden, Judas approached and greeted Him, giving Him a kiss, a kiss that was far from one of love. Rather, the kiss was the signal the armed men were watching for so they could arrest the one that was kissed, and as we see in today’s passages from all four gospels, the arrest started immediately after the kiss was delivered.

Now I’m sure the crowd accompanying Judas, armed with their swords and clubs, felt they would have an easy time taking Jesus into custody but as we see, they quickly experienced resistance, not from Jesus but from Peter who drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, a man named Malchus.

You would have thought this was a noble thing to do, Peter defending Jesus, but as we read, Jesus was less than happy with His disciple, rebuking him by saying:

“Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Peter’s brash action could have ended up costing him, Jesus, and James and John their lives. The men sent by the Jewish religious leaders had swords too and could have easily retaliated in response to Peter’s attack. Sensing the potential for things to get out of hand, Jesus quickly picked up the severed ear and miraculously put it back on Malchus’ head, restoring it as if nothing had happened. Imagine the impact this must have had on the high priest’s servant. He couldn’t help but be changed forever through the merciful healing Jesus had performed.

Well, no more had Jesus restored the ear that He asked His faithful disciples, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?” Jesus knew the time had come to allow the will of His Father to be done, even though the road ahead was paved with great suffering. Jesus knew the cup His Father had given had to be drunk from, even if the cup’s contents were bitter. Only a perfect unblemished sacrifice could pardon the sin penalty that all of God’s people were under and God had appointed Jesus, His one and only Son, to be that sacrifice. The arrest, the trial to come, the brutal abuse and beating after that, and then the cross crucifixion were all part of the Father’s plan to redeem His people from their sins and Jesus knew He had to be a willing participant in that plan. Nothing or no one was going to get in the way of that, especially a sword wielding disciple.

So we see Jesus making it clear that there is a wrong way to use the sword but as we look elsewhere in the scriptures, we find there is a proper time to use it as well.

Why the disparity?

Because in the case of Jesus and our scriptures for today, we find the sword is a physical weapon. But when we move to the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church in Ephesus, we find a spiritual sword we are encouraged to use, a sword we wield to defend ourselves against Satan:

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:10-11, 16-17

Here we find the sword we are supposed to use, “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God”. It’s a weapon Jesus used Himself in the 4th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, showing us the proper way to use our spiritual weapon.

In that chapter, we find Jesus emerging from 40 days and nights in the wilderness. No doubt hungry from the fasting He had done, Jesus had little time to find food before Satan comes upon Him with an attack of temptation. You remember what that first evil enticement was, right? It went something like this:

Satan comes to Jesus and says, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

It was a challenge based on Jesus proving Himself to the devil. Jesus was hungry. Jesus had power to do anything. And so Satan suggested He use the power, turn the stones to bread, and therefore show that He was really God’s Son.

It sounded simple enough but there was only one problem. Jesus didn’t have to prove Himself to anyone. He didn’t have to validate who He was. God had sent Him from heaven to earth with a specific mission: to save all of mankind from their sinfulness and create a pathway to salvation. Jesus had come to gain victory over Satan not to submit to his bidding.

And so we find Jesus, in the midst of a deviously designed wicked attack, simply says this to Satan:

“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Jesus didn’t make up these words on the spot. No, these words were written in the Book of Deuteronomy, one of the five Old Testament books that comprise the Books of the Law. In other words, Jesus pulled out His sword of the Spirit which was the word of God and used it to perfection on Satan, showing us how to do the same as He did.

This is important because every day we find the devil coming onto people with temptations of every kind. He never stops going on the offensive when it comes to trying to take down the people of God. And since Satan is always on the offensive, we need to consistently and persistently be on the defensive with our weapons, our spiritual swords at the ready.

But listen, you will only be well armed if you know the word of God, right?

How can you use your weapon properly if the weapon isn’t effective?

From a physical standpoint, a dull sword isn’t going to cause much damage. Likewise, a person with very little knowledge of the scriptures isn’t going to do very well in putting their sword of the Spirit to work. The scriptures are critically important to our spiritual health and this is why the words from Deuteronomy that Jesus used bear great meaning for us all.

For indeed, the word of the Lord is not only our weapon, our sword to defend ourselves when Satan attacks, but it is also our sustenance, the spiritual nourishment needed to keep us healthy. Just as a person’s physical self would suffer if no food was consumed, so too will a person’s spiritual health decline without spiritual nutrition from the words found in the Bible. We simply must be in the scriptures each and every day to not only keep ourselves spiritually strong but also spiritually protected.

So, how are you doing in these areas?

Are you using your sword properly to defend yourself? And how spiritually healthy are you today?

The answers to these questions will be found by how frequently and intently you are utilizing the life sustaining, life defending word of God.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com