Matthew 26-28
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The prophecies are fulfilled; God’s mercy-plan is complete. Jesus, God’s Son, the Messiah gave His
life for our sins. He paid the
ultimate sacrifice so that we could freely come to God.
It is very humbling and a bit indescribable the feelings of
knowing what He went through and that He did it all for me. The scene at Gethsemane is always an
eye-opener as to how hard this was for Jesus. He says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of
death.” He knew the torture that
was coming. He knew everyone
including His closest friends were about to completely abandon Him. He prayed three times that night to His
Father to see if it was possible to change the plan, but every time He also
prayed for God’s will to be done.
He didn’t have to go through with it, but He did willingly. “Do you think I cannot call on my
Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of
angels? But how then would the
Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” What if that would have been the end of
the story? Or what if Jesus really
had come down from the cross as the crowd was hatefully and sarcastically
shouting for Him to do? He could
have proved to everyone there that He was truly God’s Son, the promised King of
all kings, but instead He was silent.
He allowed them to beat Him, spit on Him, mock Him, and put Him on a
cross to suffer the cruelest form of death possible.
And when He died, the massive thick curtain in the temple ripped
completely in two from top to bottom.
This was the curtain that separated The Most Holy Place that only
priests were allowed to enter to be in God’s presence and only once a year on a
special day to atone for the sins of the people. It was no more.
At that moment Jesus took away the separation between God and man. He paid the sacrifice to atone for all
sins so that we could freely come to God and have a relationship with Him.
And that was still not the end of the amazing story. Three days after Jesus died He was
resurrected! He tells His
disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” promising to be with them (and
believers forever) always, to the very end of the age.
What a crazy, amazing, loving, merciful, wonderful plan!
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