IT WOULDN'T REALLY END, WOULD IT?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@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.

When they came together in Galilee, He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

Matthew 17:22-23

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because He was teaching His disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.” But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it.

Mark 9:30-32

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

Luke 9:43b-45

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

Jesus’ first attempt to warn His disciples of His destiny didn’t go over very well at all. You may recall Peter choosing to rebuke His Master with this simple rebuttal:

“Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”

Peter would not accept that the man he identified as being “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 17:16), the man he had witnessed doing powerful, miraculous acts of healing and exorcism could be harmed let alone killed by a mere, mortal man. He saw Jesus as untouchable and imperishable but what Peter lacked was a knowledge and understanding of why Jesus had really come. This was a misunderstanding shared by his disciple contemporaries.

Well, Peter had to know that his rebuke was rejected in the strongest of terms for you’ll recall Jesus saying this to him:

“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”  

Did I mention that Peter lacked the understanding to grasp why Jesus was saying He had to be killed and then raised again on the third day?

You see, Peter did not have in mind the concerns of God for if he did then his eyes would have been opened to why Jesus was sent from heaven to earth by His Father in the first place. For God so loved the world that He was willing to give up His one and only Son as a final atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Peter didn’t put all this together and neither did any of the other eleven chosen ones. They were unwilling to accept the truth that although fully God, Jesus was fully man and thus able to die like any other man could to include crucifixion, a death typically reserved for the worst of criminals.

When it came to Jesus’ life, the disciples’ attitude could be described as this:

“It wouldn’t really end, would it?”

Well, as we see in our continuing study of the Gospels, Jesus saw it fit to remind His disciples one more time that indeed His life could and would end. Look again at His words from Mark’s account:

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because He was teaching His disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.” But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask Him about it.  Mark 9:30-32

Note here that Jesus did not wish to be disturbed as He taught His disciples and so He made sure no one knew where they were. It wasn’t that He was sharing a new teaching with them but rehashing what they could expect would happen to Him. After all, He was training and preparing them to carry on His work after He departed, even if they didn’t thoroughly grasp what was happening at the time.

And so we find Jesus going over the future occurrences that would transpire once again, essentially a review of coming events. Looking at His words, we see where He wanted to reaffirm that although He was the “Son of Man” He was going to be delivered into the hands of mere mortals who would be able to have their way with Him. Indeed, they would even be able to take His life but only for three days because after that He would regain it and rise.

Perhaps this matter of coming back to life was as hard to comprehend as Jesus dying in the first place. I mean, resurrection wasn’t exactly something that was accepted as even being possible in many Jewish circles in that time, particularly among the Sadducees who flat out rejected the notion.

And yet, Jesus made it clear that He would die but not remain dead. He would rise again to new life. His life would not end but endure forever, just as would anyone else who placed their belief and trust in Him from that point forward, anyone who would choose to be a Christian and commit to be Christ-like in the way they live.

Yes, Jesus would have to die. The price for sin was steep and could only be covered by the perfect sacrifice, the unblemished Lamb of God sent to earth to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Through His death, Jesus conquered sin and then three days later, His resurrection gained victory over death and the grave. Thus the only way any person can claim victory over both sin and death is through the only One who has won the victory and brings it to those who place their hope in Him, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the only One who can bring us to God the Father (John 14:6).

I pray you are counted in that number today as we begin a new year.

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 OurChristianWalk@aol.com