Friday, April 18, 2014

He Knew

Y’all, He knew!

He knew, yet He went to Jerusalem anyway.

14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer"; 

He knew, yet He went to the Garden anyway.

39 And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. 40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” 
46  [The soldiers came and] they laid hands on Him and seized Him. 
53 They led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. 

He knew that He would be humiliated.

64b And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. 65 Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in the face.

Mistreated.

15 Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.Pilate questioned Him. Pilate said to the crowd, "Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?" 13 They shouted back, “Crucify Him!” 15 Wishing to satisfy the crowd, after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Abandoned.

16 The soldiers took Him away into the palace 17 They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. 20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.

22 They brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. 32 Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

He knew that He would be put to a torturous death.

33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, yielded up His spirit. 

He knew! Yet He came to Earth anyway!

51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

He came that people living in darkness might see a great Light.
He came to remove the barrier of our sin, our choices,  our very nature that separates us from the God of the Universe.
He came to give life to the dead who would believe.
He came that we might know God.

29 The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 
35 And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.

Happy Easter!




(Texts taken from Matthew 27, Mark 4-15 , Luke 22-23 , John 19 , John 1, John 3  The Bible New International Version)