Blog

“And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” Mark‬ ‭15:38‬ ‭KJV‬‬. This is one of the miraculous things that immediately happened when Jesus breathed His last breath upon the cross. For all of those centuries that thick veil had hung in the temple in Jerusalem. It had separated sinful man from the Holy presence of God. Only once a year, the high priest could enter in, and that with the blood of animal sacrifice. But when Jesus died, He was to become our Great and Merciful High Priest, sitting at the Father’s right hand making intercession for us. No more would man need an earthly priest, or any human being, to be able to come to God. No more would we need to come through the blood of animal sacrifices. Now we all can come, through the shed blood of Jesus! And what a miraculous thing this was. It wasn’t a man, or men rending the veil from the bottom. No, it was God Himself doing it from above! God Himself was making a way for each of us to come to Him. Let us praise and thank our God, for making the Way for us to come to Him. And let us thank Jesus, our Blessed Lord and Saviour, for laying down His life and paying the price for our sins, so we could come to God through Him.

“save Thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” Mark‬ ‭15:30-31‬ ‭KJV‬‬. At times it’s difficult to imagine the cruelty of men. Even as Jesus hangs on the cross, suffering for the sins of the world, His enemies are mocking Him. But they were blinded by sin and could not understand. He certainly had power to save Himself. He could have come down from the cross and destroyed them along with this wicked world. Yet He willingly chose to hang there in great torment and agony. He did all this to provide us this great salvation. And make no mistake, this has always been part of the unbelieving world’s attitude to God’s people: ‘save yourself’. Even in most of modern religion it is much the same. Most want a cross-less religion! They don’t want to hear about ‘suffering with the Saviour’. They reject the Biblical message of ‘denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Him’ And in addition to these, this is also what our own flesh would tell us. “Save yourself! Spare yourself! God wants you to be happy so suffering surely can’t be involved”. But let us believe, even as Jesus was faithful to bear His cross, so we must be faithful to bear ours. And never forget Romans 8:18, “…the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed…” One day our suffering will end and eternal glory will be ours.

“And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.” Mark‬ ‭15:25‬ ‭KJV‬‬. These sobering words remind us of why Jesus came to this world. He did not come to live a life of ease, comfort and prosperity like most religious people today seek for. He did not come to achieve any kind of ‘worldly success’ as so many strive for. He came to take our sins upon Himself, go to that old, rugged cross and there suffer, bleed and die in our place. By every earthly standard, His life was a complete failure. Crucifixion was the most shameful way for a man to die. And yet, through His suffering and atoning death, we have this great salvation! Because He was willing to pour out His life unto death, we can escape the eternal condemnation we all deserved and experience eternal life in Him! Today, with so much trouble and suffering going on in our world, it is easy for us to get distracted from the main things. But let us never forget, it is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we live today. Let us bow humbly before Him and be thankful that He loved us so much, as to be willing to pay that awful price for undeserving sinners like us. And by God’s grace, let us glory in nothing else except our crucified and risen Saviour.

“Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him. But it shall not be well with the wicked…” Ecclesiastes‬ ‭8:12‬ -13 KJV‬‬. Most people in this world assume that because they are not suffering or under obvious judgment, that God has not taken notice of them. Even religious people who continue in their sins, imagine that they are going to get by. But God’s Word makes very clear that no sinner is going to get by. It is not going to be well with those who practice wickedness. But for God’s children, for those who fear and reverence Him, we have this blessed promise, that it will be well! Even though our bodies may grow weak and ‘all that live Godly will suffer persecution’, yet we can proclaim with the songwriter, “It is well with my soul!” What a joy it is to know, that all things are well between my soul and the Saviour! Let this be our consolation when we face the struggles of this life, “It is well, it is well with my soul”.

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation…” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:3-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In the story of the prodigal son it is very clear that the son desires to return home because of what he knew about the father. He knew that his father had helped others in their time of need, so he believed he was merciful. And in spite of all his own failings, he believed his father would receive him, comfort him and meet his needs. All of that is a picture of man’s relationship with our Heavenly Father. We can arise from the ruins of our sin stained lives and go the Father because we know He is merciful. We can come to Him for the comfort and healing our souls need because we know He is the God of all comfort. And yet, how many times we still struggle with our many cares and burdens and fail to go to our Father! How often do we suffer with sorrow and pain, and never seek our Father, Who is waiting to comfort us. If we only knew that He loves to show mercy and to comfort His children! For many earthly fathers it is sometimes confusing or difficult to know how to give comfort. But we have a perfect Father in Heaven Who completely understands us and longs to comfort His children. In Him we will find all the comfort and help we need.

“And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Luke‬ ‭15:21‬ ‭KJV‬‬. One of the things often overlooked in this passage of the prodigal son is, the brokenness and humble spirit of the son when he returned to his father. The very thing that caused him to go back to his father was his realization that for all his efforts to make it on his own, he still needed his father. Spiritually this is one of the great failures of modern religion. Far too often, souls are instructed merely to believe. Many churches today actually discourage the Biblical truths of repentance, brokenness and humility. But God help us to realize, there is no way to the Heavenly Father, noway for us to be saved, except through humility. Apart from true humility we would never see our need of a Saviour. We would never plead the merits of Jesus’ atoning blood. But when the convicting power of the Holy Spirit touches us, then we will truly recognize our condition and we will be humbled. Then we will say with the prodigal, “I am not worthy to be Your child, I’m not worthy of the least of Your mercies”. May God help us, in this shallow religious generation, to humble ourselves before our Heavenly Father. His arms are always open to the humble, but He will resist the proud.

“I will arise and go to my father…”Luke‬ ‭15:18‬ ‭KJV‬‬. These were the words of the prodigal son when he finally realized his desperate condition and great need. He knew that the answer for all of his needs was to be once again with his father. As believers we should pray that lost souls would do the same. We should ask God to help them to see that their only hope, and their greatest need is, to go to the Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. But may we also realize that this is our constant need! Every day we wake up this should be our attitude and desire, “I will arise and go to my Heavenly Father”. Every time we are down in the valley of desperation or some difficult place in our lives, this should be our determination, “I will arise and go to my Father”. Every time we face temptation this should be our first thought, “I will go to my Father”. In all those times that we don’t know what to do and we are seeking direction this should be our first step, “I will arise and go to my Father”. How thankful we should be that we have a good, merciful and loving Heavenly Father Who is always ready to receive us with open arms. How blessed we are that we have a Great Father Who has all power to do what we need. By God’s grace and in every situation, let us always rise and go to our Father.

“Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against Whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.” 2 Kings‬ ‭19‬:‭22‬ ‭KJV‬‬. In this passage where God saves His people and destroys their enemy, there is another very important thing to notice. Because of the enemy’s words spoken against God, He did this, not only for His people, but even more for the sake of His own Name. We should remember, when the enemies of righteousness are attacking us, as God’s people, one day they will have to deal with God Himself. In this evil day we are living in, when so many are speaking blasphemy against God, we should realize that God is taking all of it into account. And we should learn not to take it personally, because the far greater issue is, that ungodly people are bringing themselves under the judgment of God. Every decision made at every level that is against God’s Word, those individuals will have to answer for. Let us pray for lost souls before they fall under God’s judgment.

“For I will defend this city, to save it, for Mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand…” 2 Kings‬ ‭19‬:‭34‬-‭35‬ ‭KJV‬‬. As king Hezekiah and Jerusalem faced this formidable Assyrian army, they knew that their only hope was in God. They had no ability nor resources on a human level to defend themselves. To use a familiar phrase, ‘their backs were against a wall’. They had no options. They were in a situation where everything depended upon God. Only God could do what they needed. But what a blessing it was to discover, when only God can do it, God will! Dear ones, do we realize today, when only God can do what is needed, He will do it for the soul who trusts Him? Every Christian is going to face situations bigger than them. Their will be enemies and troubles so overwhelming that we feel much like those Jews did then. And we will realize that our only hope is God. And it is in these situations that God shows Himself strong on behalf of His trusting people. When things look bad and only God can fix things, let us believe He will.

“Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the LORD God, even Thou only.” 2 Kings‬ ‭19‬:‭19‬ ‭KJV‬‬. When king Hezekiah finally realized he could not handle this enemy on his own, he earnestly prays to God. And as his heart is humbled, his prayer reveals that he now has a better understanding of the entire situation. He realizes this isn’t simply about their freedom and prosperity as a people. Even more, this is about God’s glory. He recognizes that this enemy has spoken against God. So as he prays, we find his motive is “that the kingdoms of this world will know that You are God”. This is one of the most important issues for us to consider when we pray. What is our motive? Are we praying merely for personal ease or comfort, or are we asking for God’s glory in the situation? Are we asking so that those we care about can have things easier, or are we asking that God be glorified in their lives? One of the reasons God answered in such a tremendous way for Hezekiah then, is because he humbled himself to pray with a proper motive. May each of us, as we pray, ask so that God may be glorified in sending the answer we need.