March 13, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in our Lenten readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 24 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Week Jesus Dies
Read Sections 5.19 through 5.20 (pages 152-155)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
The Life of Jesus 5.19-5.20
“Then a voice came from Heaven, I have already brought glory to myself, I will do it again.” – 5.20
I like how in reading that Jesus follows up saying that voice was for you and not for me. God spoke directly down from Heaven not only replying to Jesus but all the people around him could hear it. Gave me chills! Imagine being one of the people there .
”Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.“
John 12:42-43 NKJV
This reminded me of:
”But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.“
Matthew 10:33 NKJV
Our standing for Christ, even in the face of persecution or death is evidence of our faith. I remember my step mom questioning whether God would deny someone if they were threatened with death or death of their child. We had an argument about it. I thought it was pretty clear that we should not deny Him, even under threat of death.
Then again, Peter denies Jesus 3x and Jesus reinstated him. Is denial a forgivable sin?
I believe it is, but God looks at the heart, not the outward appearance, ie the words spoken. We can imagine a denial that is consistent with what is in the heart and a denial that is not.
Yes, Tyler and I were discussing it. It is one thing to stumble in fear and beat yourself up afterwards, ashamed of what you said and repenting to God, and another thing to renounce Christ and continue to walk in unbelief and denial of Him. God knows the heart.
The disciples always seemed so confused about Jesus’ coming death. He spoke of it so candidly and like an obvious end to His time here on earth but I understand why they might be confused at the time. Such a different picture of saving than our earthly minds expect. They were likely expecting a mighty battle, a strong warrior, or even a king and rather this man just like them comes, teaches, performs miracles, spends time with sinners, reprimands the Pharisees, and then looks like He lost the fight when He dies. But that was the plan! A baby, a man, and a death…so simple and yet so complete. His life for our sins and we receive this amazing forgiveness and an eternal relationship with Him just for believing! Overwhelming love!
5.19 The Son of Man Will Judge All People (Matthew 25:31-46) Christians are made new creations by grace, through faith, and that which is not their own, but the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) But as the old Christian campfire song goes…”you will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, you will know we are Christians by our love…” So as new creations in Christ, our lives should demonstrate our faith through action, and in this example, Jesus makes it clear that how we love and serve each other in this life bears witness to His saving work in our lives. Afterall, Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, our mind, and our strength…and “a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39)
5.20 Jesus Talks About His Death Again (John 12:20-50) “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name” What an incredible example of submission and surrender to God’s will displayed here. I love that Jesus admits to being troubled, even within His very soul. To have a Savior who experienced all that any person can experience is so important and amazing. He KNOWS what we face, and because He knows, and has experienced it, He is not a distant or detached Savior, but rather He gives us what we need through His Spirit indwelling us and strengthening us in our walk. (1 Cor 10:13).
I have always found the passages that deal with God actively hardening the hearts of people or actors difficult to understand. (Exodus 9:12, Exodus 10:1, Exodus 10:20, Deuteronomy 2:30, Isaiah 6:10). It is that God had to actually harden a heart to accomplish His will? Like God took deliberate action against a human so that His will would be accomplished? Given man’s total depravity, this would not make God unjust, since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) but I still find it troubling. Of course, we also see a reference in Isaiah 63:17 where Isaiah asks God “why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart so that we fear you not?” We know that God cannot be tempted and He Himself tempts no one (James 1:13). So, perhaps this is a prayer uttered in desperation and despair…but it is important to live in reality. My sin is not God’s fault.
“Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in Him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” Where do I allow either my fear of man or my desire for the praise of man, to eclipse my fear of God or my desire for the glory of God?
Amen Sean!
And Sean, I don’t believe God ever hardens a heart that is not already hard, but does quicken and deepen the hardness to accomplish His purposes. It doesn’t happen often, but when His plan calls for it…like the Exodus and the work of Christ on the cross..the lines get blurred between God sovereign work and man’s free will. And yet, man’s will always remains free by virtue of the fact that God holds man culpable for His decisions. But God also always remains sovereign and can use clay pots in any way that He so chooses. That is why we always must be careful of the deceitfulness of sin that hardens us toward God and that hardness only gets worse as we stop listening and our conscience is not cleansed by the blood and by the truth of the word applied to our hearts.
The Life of Jesus 5.19-5.20; Luke 15-17
The Sheep and the Goats:
We should ask ourselves in light of this passage if our actions follow the faith we claim to have.
We as believers of Christ, are now the body of Christ here on Earth. Treat others who are of the body of Christ how Christ in Heaven would, with love and compassion and God will greatly reward you. We must all share in the suffering of Christ, to be crucified with Him and buried with Him. It may seem sad that not all people are saved, but that is the way that it must be. If God saved everyone he would not be the just God that He is. I can only imagine the glory and spectacle that is to come, the Day of the second coming of Christ, though there is no knowing when this day will come. Thank you Lord for giving us a way out of eternal damnation. We do not deserve it but you give it to us freely, thought at the cost of You at the cross on Calvary. No love is greater than yours Lord. It is incorruptible, unending, and perfect. Thank you Spirit for helping me in my weakness and giving life to my mortal body.
Praise the Lord!
Well, it IS sad that not everyone will come to Christ! The work of Christ on the Cross was sufficient to forgive the sins of the entire world…1 John 2:2 says that “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” This does not mean that the whole world will be saved of course. Ultimately, only those who place their faith in Jesus will be saved…but in the same way we are each responsible for our own sin (it is OUR weakness in the flesh that results in our sinning, not some weakness in God’s Spirit or promises to us), anyone who does not come to life in Christ has made that decision for themselves. Romans 1:19-20 makes it clear…we are without excuse. I have heard it said that no one goes to heaven because they themselves deserve it (absent their faith in Christ), and no one goes to hell against their will.
Romans 1:24 may be one of the saddest verses in Scripture…”Therefore God gave them up…” Almost as if all our sin and rejection of God results in God saying to us…”thy will be done.” And because He is perfectly just…our rebellious will results in our eternal separation from Him. May that sadness motivate us to reach out more and share the love of Christ with the lost world around us!
Lenten day 24
Jesus comes the first time as a Saviour to die for mankind`s sins. Or as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. { John 1:29b. The Second time as is mentioned in this section, He will come as Judge and King. Or as the Lion of Judah. This same Jesus that people scorned and made fun of and killed will in the end be their Judge. Every knee will bow before Jesus. Phil. 2:9-11 ; 2 Thess. 1:7b–9 { the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of His power.} Jesus also tells us that we show our love for Him by showing our love to others. Whether they are believers or not we are to demonstrate the love of Jesus for He dwells in us and we are His vessels for His purpose. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.} Here in is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.} I John 4: 7,8,10,11. Actually the whole section of 1 John 4: 7-21 talks about the love of God and how we should love each other. A contrast here of God`s judgement and His love. And of course in section 5.20 is again His demonstration of His love by dying on the cross for all sinners. Then He calls for any that would follow Him to deny themselves and live for Him. In other words Jesus Christ must be first in everything that we say or do. Or as Paul puts it: { I am crucified with Christ: never the less I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.} Gal. 2:20. Jesus also told those there to walk in the light while you have the light. Jesus is the light but if you don`t have Jesus in your hearts you will be in darkness. Unless you are drawn to the light. But the problem is that people would rather walk in darkness and live in their sins. Sean, maybe this could help in your question about hardness of heart. I was reminded of Romans 1: 18-32. where they refused to acknowledge God and His ways but instead went their own ways. After a point God gave them up or let them do whatever they wanted to do which was sin. Their hearts gradually kept getting harder and harder. God knows this for He knows every heart. Perhaps this is what it means when God hardened their hearts like He did with Pharaoh. God does give each person a choice to either come to Him which is the light or to reject Him and live in darkness. This is how I think of it. As far as Judas Iscariot I don`t see any evidence in scripture that he was a true believer, He like so many thought that Jesus was to set up His Kingdom right then and wanted to be part of the glory and wanted to have power, money, and everything that went with it. But his heart was never truly changed and when things started to go bad for Jesus was going to die. He decided to cash in and get something out of it. Yes, he felt bad for betraying Jesus and was sorry but it never says that he repented. The scripture does say in reference to this in prophecy { cursed is everyone who is hanged on the tree. Not sure of the reference. I am sure that Pastor can answer all of this better. God bless you all.
To me, it is important to read the passage on the sheep and the goats in the light of other scriptures that say that salvation is by grace and by faith. Now that faith is verified by the fruit that is born, and that is where this teaching comes into play. It shows that God has a heart for those that are hurting and in trouble, those who find themselves overcome by life and are the rejects of regular society. And those who align themselves with God will share that heart and do things that meet human need and relieves suffering. This is a natural outpouring of our salvation as opposed to a requirement for salvation. But this also reveals that Jesus will be the One who judges the world in the end. His glory will first be found in the sacrifice that He makes for the salvation of humankind, but in the end all the world will answer to Him for what they have done with His revelation. How convicting it will be for the people of Jesus’ time in the end when they recognize the reality of what they saw and experienced and yet they did not believe. And it is hard to understand what is meant that God blinded people or closed their minds. But we can know that God is not being unfair or unkind in doing so, but doing what is consistent with man’s will and His purposes. It also speaks to how God does want us to seek Him and strive to obtain the knowledge of God, because He wants us to know that we really want it….or we really believe. He wants us fully engaged in our pursuit of Him and the things He desires for us. Otherwise, would we really see that it is worth it….or do we really believe.
Lenten 2024 – Day 24