49:56

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Jesus, verse, Passover, Sanhedrin, Jerusalem, people, Caiaphas, begins, God, Mark, plan, chief priests, cross, Christ, high priest, gathered, tells, scribes, passion, day

Table of Contents

Introduction.. - 1 -

1. The Setting. - 4 -
2. The Players. - 6 -
3. The Plot. - 8 -
4. The Timing. - 9 -
5. The Director. - 10 -

The Gospel - 11 -

What do we learn from this?. - 11 -

 

Introduction

You can see the title of this sermon here is The Divine Plan of the Cross. When religion gets into the hands of the wrong person, it has eternally damning consequences. Think about some of the religions of our day.

• You have the Pope, who leads the Roman Catholic Church.
• You have Joseph Smith, who, although he is dead, has been leading the Mormons to hell.
• You have the Prophet Mohammad, who according to current statistics is leading 1.7 billion Muslims to hell.
• And then there are heretics and false teachers, many of them who are out there who are leading many more people to eternal damnation.

 

And when you think about the power that these men have, and the power that they have created for themselves, they really act as directors over these religions, directing these people to believe in worship, whatever it is that they tell them to believe in worship.

 

Well, in Jesus day, it wasn't the Pope. It wasn't Joseph Smith or Mohammad who was leading the false religion of the day. It was the high priest. It was the high priest in Jerusalem. In Matthew 26 in verse 3 tells us that the high priest in Jesus day was a man named Caiaphas. Caiaphas, being the high priest. Caiaphas was the one who controlled the temple. He controlled Judaism. In that day, he controlled the temple and all of the false worship that had been established there in the temple grounds. He controlled that entire operation of the Passover, as people came from all over Judea, to come and celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem.

 

And if you remember from our study, back in Mark chapter 12, the temple had become corrupt. It was corrupt at this time. It was nothing more than a marketplace for Caiaphas and all of those religious leaders serving in the temple to get rich. That was their goal, that was their mission...to get rich off of all of these people.

 

And Jesus was so angered by what they had done to the temple that was supposed to be the place of worship of God, a place of prayer and worship. Jesus was so angry that He came into the temple, and He cleansed it. He overturned tables and money changers, and He completely destroyed that whole ground there on the Temple Mount. But it was Caiaphas, Caiaphas, who was leading that whole operation that Jesus destroyed. And being the high priest, he oversaw the council, that we know of as the Sanhedrin. He oversaw the Sanhedrin.

 

Who were the Sanhedrin? The Sanhedrin was made up of 71 men who would act as the Supreme Court in Israel. They would have the final say on all things pertaining to religion and politics of their day. The council was made up of the high priest, who was Caiaphas at this time, and then 70 other men who were known as Chief Priests, elders, and scribes. They were the religious leaders of the day. They were the ones who were calling all the all of the shots there in Jerusalem. But it was Caiaphas, who was overseeing this entire operation.

 

And as we come to Mark chapter 14, this morning, we meet some of these guys. We meet the chief priests and the scribes. And we see what it was that they were trying to do. So I would encourage you to open your Bibles to Mark 14 and follow along with me as I read our passage here for us this morning. It's only two verses but there's a lot packed in here. Mark chapter 14, beginning in verse 1.

 

“Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him” (that is Jesus) “by stealth and kill Him; 2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.” (Mark 14:1-2)

 

Now, notice here in Mark chapter 14, that there's a sudden change. There's a sudden change here. Last week, we saw how Jesus finished up his teaching on the Mount of Olives, called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus taught these disciples about the end times and the signs of the end times as they had asked Him this question: what is it going to be? Tell us the signs Jesus.  So He taught them. But all of a sudden, Mark takes a turn here, Jesus is no longer teaching them about the signs of the end times. And Mark now turns our attention to why Jesus came into Jerusalem in the first place.

 

You will notice in Mark chapter 14, you can look to the end of this chapter here. There are 72 verses, it's going to take us a little while to get through Mark chapter 14. There's 72 verses in this chapter. It's the longest chapter in the Gospel of Mark. And if you were to begin in Mark chapter 11, at Jesus' entry, what we call His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and you were to count the amount of verses from that point, to the end of the book, there would be 370 verses. The entire book of Mark has 661 verses in it. So those of you who can do math quickly, you would see that over half of the gospel of Mark is devoted to the last week of Christ's life.

 

If you remember back to when we first began Mark, almost two years ago now, you'd remember that Mark used this word "immediately." Remember that? Immediately, he loved to use that word, it was a word he used a lot. And he used it because he wanted to speed things up so that he could get to the final week of Christ's life. He wants to get to the cross. This is what all of human history has been leading up to, to the cross. And so he wants to get there.

 

Now remember, is it Mark who is telling us the accounts of Jesus life? It's not. It's not Mark. Mark is writing for Peter. This is Peter's gospel. This is Peter's account. Mark was simply a scribe who was writing everything down for Peter. And so, it's Peter here, who wants to get to the final week of Jesus' life and tell us all about the cross.

 

But before we get to the actual cross, there has to be some things that play out in this drama to get Christ to the cross. Now, if you remember, Jesus taught the disciples on the Mount of Olives on Wednesday of the Passion Week. Now, let me just pause here for a moment. And just help you understand the Passion Week. Why do we call it the Passion Week? Well, we don't call it passion in the sense that you and I use this word passion. We use passion to mean something that we are eager about, right? We're eager about something or are longing for something or we have some strong feelings for something. But when we use passion, referring to the final week of Jesus, that word passion there comes from the Latin word Passio, which means to suffer or to endure.

 

We've seen plays and movies with the title passion in it, The Passion of the Christ. And those plays and those movies usually begin in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus went to pray. And you remember what happened there? As Jesus goes to pray, He begins to suffer and He begins to sweat drops of blood. That is where He prays. "Oh Father, if it is Your will remove this cup from Me." (Luke 22:42) What is the cup? It's the wrath of God that He is about to drink. "If it is Your will remove this from me." Passion, suffering that He is going to have to endure.

 

But we call the whole week the Passion Week because Christ came riding in on a donkey on that Monday. Yes, we call it Palm Sunday, but it's really Palm Monday. And He came riding in on a donkey on Monday into Jerusalem with one mission. What was His mission? To suffer for you and I. He came in to suffer. This is the week of His suffering.

 

And so we're here still on Wednesday and Mark's narrative in Mark 14, as the passion begins to ramp up, because this is the culmination of human history. This is why Jesus came into Jerusalem in the first place.  As JC Ryle points out, “only two of the gospel writers describe the circumstances of Christ's birth only two of them. But all four dwell minutely on Christ's death.”

 

So, we come now to this amazing moment in history, as we look at these two verses here this morning, and I want us to see how this whole drama begins to take shape. And as we'll see, this morning, there are players and directors who are guiding things along in these final days of Jesus. But there is one director who is overseeing this whole operation. So, this morning, I want us to look at five different aspects of the plan of the cross, as it begins to unfold.

 

We're going to see first the setting, then we'll look at the players. Then we'll look at the plot, then the timing, and then finally, the director.

 

1.     The Setting

 

So, let's look at our first point here this morning, the setting. Look at the beginning of verse 1, it says, "Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away;" (Mark 14:1) Notice Mark begins here with this word, now. Now marks a change from the Olivet Discourse. That's over. And now he is focused on the final days of Jesus life. Remember, as Mark was writing this down, he wasn't putting chapter, verses, chapter numbers and verses in there for us. Those were later added. So, he's just writing. And as he writes, now -- there's a change. And Mark wants us to focus now on the passion.

 

And what Mark tells us here is that it was two days away, two days away from the Passover and Unleavened Bread. Now, what is the Passover and Unleavened Bread? Well, you remember the account in Exodus, right? When the angel of death came? This was the 10th plague. As he came in to kill the firstborn, every firstborn there in Egypt. Remember, Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go. As Moses came to Pharaoh and said, “God says, let my people go” and what did Pharaoh say? No, you cannot go, I will not let you go. Moses came and told him finally, after plague after plague, after miracle after miracle, here is the 10th plague. The firstborn are going to die.

 

God told Moses then to tell the Israelites to kill a lamb, and put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. And as the Angel of Death came by there in Egypt, from house to house, if there was blood on the doorposts, that angel would then pass over that house. And everyone who was there in that house would be safe under the blood.

 

And in Exodus 12 God commanded Israel then that they celebrate the Passover every year with the slaughter of a lamb. Then for the next seven days, they were to celebrate what's known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was a feast that was celebrated to remember how quickly God got the Israelites out of Egypt. The bread wasn't even able to rise, unleavened bread, because God got them out there out of Egypt so quickly.

 

But by Jesus' day, these two celebrations had really merged into one. In fact, sometimes that entire period from the day of Passover, through the next seven days of unleavened bread, was just called Passover. They would refer to it as Passover -- that that whole entire period -- those eight days, and sometimes they just referred to it as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, understanding, you know that it is this period of time. Mark tells us here that it's the Passover and Unleavened Bread, and that the Passover was two days away.

 

Now, why would this be important? Well, because it would tell us what's going on in Jerusalem at this time. With Passover only two days away, and then another week of celebrating the unleavened bread, Jerusalem would be packed full of people. There would be a lot of people there in this city. There would have been people, pilgrims from all over Judea, who would have made their way made their trek to Jerusalem for this feast. In fact, the law required that every Jewish male make the journey to Jerusalem for Passover.

 

The historian Josephus tells us that there was a quarter million lambs sacrificed at Passover. A lot of blood spilled during Passover. Which would mean that it could be up to 2 million people in this city here in Jerusalem as people came from all over to come and celebrate Passover. And so, the city was beginning to fill up with people who are making this journey there to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And so that's the setting.

 

It's two days before the Passover, which Exodus 12 tells us would take place on Friday the 14th of Nissan. That's when the Passover was. Two days away on Friday. And that would be the day then that the Passover lamb would be slaughtered as the people were celebrating Passover. But this is two days before that on Wednesday, and all of this begins to take place, this whole drama of the cross begins to take place for us. And so that's the setting.

 

2.     The Players

 

Let's look at our second point, the players, the players. Notice continuing on in verse 1, it says, "And the chief priests and the scribes are seeking how to seize Him." (Mark 14:1)

 

Now, as I said earlier, the chief priests and the scribes were a part of the Sanhedrin, that the group of 70 men, and they would be the ones who are calling the shots here, obviously, under the direction of the high priest, who was Caiaphas at this time, and Matthew gives us a few more details. So turn over in your Bible to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, I want us to look at Matthew's account because he gives us some details of what's going on here to help us understand this whole drama on this Wednesday. Matthew 26. And look at verse 3. It says this, "Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest named Caiaphas." So there you have the players who are working together to get rid of Jesus. Mark tells us it’s the chief priests and the scribes, Matthew tells us it's the chief priests and the elders of the people. What are they referring to here? Both are referring to the members of the Sanhedrin -- these religious leaders. But Matthew gives us another player and tells us that they were in the court of the high priest whose name was Caiaphas.

 

Now watch this because this is fascinating. Caiaphas was the son in law of a man named Annas who is the high priest before Caiaphas became the high priest and turn over to John chapter 18. John chapter 18. This is fascinating, because in John chapter 18, we get to see the trial of Christ. Judas comes to betray Jesus, Jesus is arrested, and we get to see the trial then of Christ. And look at John chapter 18 in verse 12 and what it says there.

 

So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him” notice this in verse 13, “and led Him to Annas first; for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. (John 18:12)

 

When Jesus was arrested, who did they take Jesus to first? Did they take him to the high priest of that day? They didn't. Who did they take him to? They took him to Annas. Why? Well, because Annas was -- even though Annas was not acting as the high priest then, Annas still had a lot of power. He had the power, and he was the one who really controlled the office of high priest. Caiaphas was acting as the high priest. And so he had power and authority. But his father-in-law was Annas, who was not acting as high priests that year, but had been acting as high priests previously, and therefore he had power and great authority.

 

We also see Annas in Acts chapter 4 verses 5-6. Let me just read that for you there.

 

“On the next day,” (This is talking about the trial of Peter and John) ““On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;” (Who's that? The Sanhedrin. And in verse 6…) “and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. (Acts 4:5-6)

 

Annas was even there at the trial of John and Peter. Annas was there because he had great power.

 

And so in Matthew 26, when they gathered at the court of the high priests, this man named Caiaphas, who else do you think was there helping these guys call the shots? Annas was. Annas is there and so you have the Sanhedrin, which includes Caiaphas, the high priest along with the power of Annas behind him. What is their plan? Get rid of Jesus. We got to get rid of Him.

 

But these men were not the only players in this drama. Turn back to Mark 14. Mark chapter 14. If you look ahead to verse 10. We see in verse 10, it says this. "Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him" (Jesus) "to them. They were glad when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray him at an opportune time." (Mark 14:10-11)

It wasn't just the leaders of this false religion of Judaism of this day who were the players in getting rid of Jesus...it was even one of His own disciples, who was working with these men to get rid of Jesus. One of His own disciples was being used, as well.

 

And the amazing thing is that all of this was prophesied in the Old Testament. Did you know that? Hold your finger in Mark 14 and turn it over to Psalm 41. Psalm 41. I told you we're going to be jumping around in Scripture this morning. Psalm 41 is written by David. It's written by David and, and everything that is written in Psalm 41 is true in the life of David. But there's also a future fulfillment in this Psalm. Watch this... in Psalm 41 and verse 5. It says this,

“My enemies speak evil against me,

“When will he die, and his name perish?” (Psalm 41:5)

 

Notice that. Who are His enemies? The Sanhedrin. What do they want? To take Him out. Get rid of Jesus. “When will he die and his name perish?"  Verse 6,

And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood;

His heart gathers wickedness to itself;

When he goes outside, he tells it. Verse 7,

7 All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they devise my hurt, saying,

8 “A wicked thing is poured out upon him,

That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.” (Psalm 41:6-7)

 

They're thinking, we kill Him, we take Him out. He's done. We're done with Jesus, and He won't be back. Little did they know. Look at verse 9.

"Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

Who ate my bread,

has lifted up his heel against me."  (Psalm 14:9)

 

Who is that? Judas. That's Judas. In fact, Christ quotes verse 9, and John 13:18, during the Last Supper, referring to Judas. He quotes that very verse right there. The religious leaders of the day were trying to get rid of Jesus and just make Him go away because He was a threat to their false religious system. And even one of His own was a player working with these religious leaders to get rid of Jesus. So those are the players. That's the setting. And the players.

3.     The Plot.

 

Let's look at our third point here. Now the plot. Turn back to Mark 14 with me. And look again, in the middle of verse 1. Beginning in the middle of verse 1 it says this, "And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth, and kill him." (Mark 14:1) Notice there are two things here that they wanted to do to Jesus, they wanted to seize Him, and they wanted to kill him. They wanted to arrest him, and they wanted to take him out.

 

In fact, Matthew tells us that when they gathered together in the court of Caiaphas the high priest, Matthew says, they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They didn't just want to arrest Jesus, and throw Him in jail for a few years to teach Him a lesson. They wanted Him dead. Why? What did Jesus do the day before? What did Jesus do on Tuesday? He came in and He completely destroyed their whole system that they had set up in the temple. They were there making a profit off of the people in the name of God. That made Jesus angry. And so He came in, and He flipped over tables, and He made a mess of their entire operation.

 

Do you think the Sanhedrin enjoyed watching all of that take place? It was a lot of money they were losing out on. They had to stop their whole operation, put the tables back in place and gather up the coins off the ground and start this operation back up again. It was a great economic hit that they took that day on Tuesday.

 

And so, their answer to that was? Kill Jesus. Get rid of Him. Do you remember back in Mark 11:18? It says, "The chief priests and the scribes heard this.” That is Jesus teaching that they had turned God's house into a den of robbers. “And they began seeking how to destroy Him." (Mark 11:18) After Jesus turned over the tables, He was there in the temple, teaching the people and saying you have turned My Father's house that is supposed to be a house of prayer and worship. It has become a den of robbers.

 

And the people were amazed at His teaching. They loved to hear Jesus teach. But what did that do to the Sanhedrin? Kill Him. We got to take Him out. "They were seeking how to destroy Him for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching." (Mark 11:18)

 

So, they had a plan. They knew that they were going to arrest Jesus and kill Him. Now, what's interesting is that this is not the first time that a plot has been made against Jesus. If you remember back in Mark chapter 3, when Jesus heals the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day, which was a “no-no” to the Sanhedrin, you don't do that. In Mark 3:6, it says,

“The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. (Mark 3:6)

 

Jesus had a lot of plots on His life. There's been a mark on Jesus' head, even from earlier on in His Galilean ministry. But it has all now come to a final boiling point, they can't have Him around any more.

 

Notice how they would arrest Jesus. It says by stealth, by stealth. That word there "stealth" in the Greek it means "by deceit." That is, they would have to devise some kind of plan that wasn't true to deceive all of these people, and go and get Him arrested. Not by speaking the truth, but by deceiving people. So that they could arrest Him and put Him to death. But, if you think about the setting, how many people are there in Jerusalem? Hundreds of thousands of people that are there in Jerusalem at this time. And so they know they can't do it now. Because if they do it now, they're going to start what? A riot. The people will riot.

 

The people love to listen to Jesus teach. So they know they can't just go and kill Him. Not now. Why? Why not now? Remember they're under Roman rule at this time. They don't even have the authority and the power to put somebody to death. They've got to go through the Roman system. And what do you think Rome did at this time, as these Jews are traveling from all over to Jerusalem to come there for the Passover? What do you think Rome did at this time? You know, what Rome did? They brought in their guards. They wanted to make sure that everything was under control during this festival. They controlled it all. And so they brought in their own guards. It's like, like us during the State Fair. Who do you see there? Police. Police are there. Guards - security is there. They bring them in. Why? Because you have all of these people that are going to be gathered together to celebrate this thing. So that's what Rome did as well.

 

And Rome watched the Jews like a hawk. They didn't want any outbreaks in the city. They were there to keep everything under control. And the Sanhedrin knew this. They knew they couldn't just go and kill Jesus with all of these people around and with these Roman guards around because it would get them in trouble.

 

In fact, they couldn't even go and make a public arrest of Him. So, they decide we'll do it by stealth. We'll do it deceitfully by devising our own plan. And who was a part of their plan? Judas Iscariot. So, they have a plot -- Their plot is to arrest Jesus and to kill Him. And so that's the setting, and the players, and the plot.

 

4.     The Timing

 

Let's look at point number four. Now the timing. Look at verse 2. “for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”  (Mark 14:2)

 

The timing for these guys was to wait until after the festival. Wait until after Passover. After Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because they knew that if they arrested Jesus and killed Him during the Passover, with all of these people around, it could start a riot. And so, their plan was to wait another 10 days. And then after the festival when everyone had left the city, and everybody had all gone back home, then they would execute their plan to kill Him. But here's the amazing thing. While these guys were gathered together, devising their own plan, while they were planning their timing of this whole event at Caiaphas' place, Jesus was predicting God's timing.

 

Turn back over to Matthew 26. Look at Matthew 26, beginning in verse 1. Right after the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 26 verse 1 it says this:

When Jesus had finished all these words,” (that is the Olivet Discourse) “He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.” (Matt 26:1-2)

 

The Sanhedrin -- they were over, gathered a Caiaphas' place saying, we'll wait until everyone leaves the city until after Passover. And then we'll get Him then. But Jesus timing was, look, guys, two days from now. I'll be handed over and crucified. Remember, isn't that the whole reason why Jesus came? Isn't that the whole reason that Jesus has been telling His disciples that they have to go to Jerusalem? He's been telling them over and over again..."guys, we're going to Jerusalem because I have to die." They didn't get it. But you're the Messiah, a dead Messiah doesn't compute, not in our theology. But Jesus has been telling them over and over again, I am going to Jerusalem to die.

 

5.     The Director

 

And while the Sanhedrin had their timing, God had His perfect timing. Which leads to our final point here this morning, the director, the director. Man's plan was to wait until after the Passover. But that was not God's plan. In fact, turn over to Acts chapter 2 with me. I want to show you this in Acts chapter 2. We're going to see the sovereignty of God on display...as we've been even talking about the sovereignty in our Romans study on Wednesday nights.

 

In Acts chapter 2, this is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. And look at what it says in verse 22. Peter says this:

 

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—” Look at this in verse 23, “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. (Acts 2:22-23)

 

It was God's pre-determined plan to put Jesus on that cross. Turn over to Acts 4:27. Acts chapter 4:27, after Peter and John were released from jail, then they went to the church and they told them all the things that had happened to them. And the church then began to pray. In lifting up one voice unto the Lord. They began to pray and look at what they said in verse 27. They said:

For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You”  (Father) “anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,” (notice this in verse 28) “to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. (Acts 4:27-28)

 

Whose hand was directing the events of the Passion Week? It was God's hand. God was directing all of the events of that week. The Sanhedrin wanted to wait to kill Jesus. But God's plan was to have Jesus dead on Passover. In two days...on Friday...Jesus dies. Because Christ came as the Passover Lamb who was to be slain on Passover, that's what the entire Old Testament has all been pointing towards, right? That's the whole sacrificial system has all been pointing to the ultimate sacrifice, where God would send His only Son to come and die on that cross, for the sins of the people. It's all been pointing to this one moment, the greatest moment in all of history.

 

The Sanhedrin they had their timing, and God said, no, no, no, it's My timing. And God was directing the whole entire event to make sure that His Son was on the cross, at the exact time to be the sacrificial lamb for you and for me. This is what all of history has been leading up to.

 

And it's been God's plan all along, to put His son on a cross as the sacrifice who would take away our sins. How do we know this? Listen to Isaiah 53, in verse 10, it says this:

 

But the LORD” (Yahweh - that's talking about the Father…but Yahweh) “was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief; (Isaiah 53:10)

 

The Father was pleased to crush His Son. It was the Father -- whose perfect plan was on display then. His perfect plan was being worked out so that His Son would be on that cross on the day of Passover, because that's what every other Passover in all of Israel's history has all been pointing forward to.

 

The Sanhedrin said, no, no, no, we'll wait until after the Passover, when everybody goes, God said, Nope, that's not My plan. It will happen on Passover, because He is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. God was directing His plan of the cross so that His Son would be nailed to a cross as the sacrifice for our sins.

The Gospel

 

Some of you are here this morning, and you don't know this Jesus, who went to a cross to die for the sins of the world. You've been trusting in yourself. You've been trusting in your own system to try and get you in to heaven. But God says no, it is only through faith in My Son. And if you're here this morning, and you don't know Christ as your Lord and Savior, I urge you today, repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins. That's why He came -- He came to die as a sacrifice and pay for sins that you can never pay for. And He died on that cross on that Passover -- and then on Sunday morning, do you know what did? He rose again, and He lives today.

 

• And He says, "All who are heavy laden come to me, if you are burdened, I will give you rest." (Matt 11:28)
• "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Accept through the Son, Jesus Christ, come to Him by faith today. And you can have the greatest gift of all in the Christmas season, which is the gift of salvation.

What do we learn from this?

 

That was God's divine plan. To put His son on that cross.  Listen church, what do we learn from this? God is sovereign over all. God is sovereign, and His plan will always come to pass. No man, no circumstances, no event, no authority, no other power can stop God's plan from being accomplished. He is in control of history. And He's in control of our lives as well. We need to rest in this truth. We need to realize that God is working everything out to accomplish His perfect plan.

 

It was accomplished on that cross. And for that we are eternally grateful, right? May we we live trusting in our sovereign God who always fulfills His perfect plan.

 

Father, we praise You. And we thank You that You are the sovereign God of the universe. That in Your sovereign and perfect plan, while man was scheming something else, Lord, Your plan was being accomplished that very week. You sent Your Son to come and live a perfect life, a life that none of us could ever live. And He lived a perfect life, and then went to a cross as a sinless man to take upon Himself, the sins of the world. Father, we thank You that He drank that cup for us. And then all of us who believe in Him, will never have to endure Your wrath. We thank You for Your love, Your mercy, Your Grace, Your compassion -- and the love that Christ displayed on that cross as He was beaten, and bled and died as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Father, we thank You for Your love. Father, I pray that as we celebrate this Christmas season that we would remember -- not that Jesus just came to Earth -- but why He came? Why You sent Him to be our sacrifice, our sacrificial lamb. Father, we thank You that He did not stay dead. But even though the Sanhedrin thought that they could take Him out and keep Him in the grave. We thank you that He came bursting forth out of that grave and that He lives today. And that through faith in Him we have hope -- eternal hope -- to be with Him, living with Him for all of eternity. We give You praise. We give You glory. And Lord help us to exalt the name of Christ this Christmas. We pray all in His name. Amen.