FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30

2. Jesus Addressed “It is Finished” to Satan – Continued

From Last Lesson: Dear believer, remember that Jesus quoted Scripture, too. He proved to the enemy and to all that it is not merely a matter of the words of Scripture but of their sense and meaning. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit has to this very day established the true sense of Scripture in its bearing upon what He as the Messiah came to do. Jesus established the kingdom of truth and of righteousness against the kingdom of the lie and of unrighteousness. Jesus has exposed the enemy for the arch-liar that he is.

Think of this dear reader, for three years the enemy had watched Jesus through His earthly ministry and not once could he convict Jesus of any sin. Jesus came to die so that the sins of all people could be blotted out. The devil must surely know by now  and understand that his certain destruction is not only at hand, but sealed that day on the cross.

Did the enemy think he was successful when he instigated Pilate to say, “What is truth?” Satan now knows, as never before, that Jesus, the “I am” of God, is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that neither he nor any of his followers can speak a final or lasting word against the truth.

If you, the believer, can meditate or try to contemplate, consider what an unspeakably horrible existence the devil will have after this. It will be impossible, from the point of the cross forward for Satan, to deceive himself the way he had done until that point. The devil does know he is already defeated. He knows now that all the powers of hell, of which he is commander in chief, can’t prevail against the Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus Christ has established. He certainly knows all this now, and from the point of the cross until he is thrown into the abyss, he will always tremble, realizing his time is so limited.

As believers, we must remember that his fury against the people of Christ Jesus will increase. It will be a desperate fury. Yet because of the cross and the resurrection, God’s people will always be safe. Believing martyrs will be without fear even as they are burned at the stake. When the enemy sees them at the stake, they and the enemy’s hosts will tremble all the more. The devil’s minions may have them “stoned, . . . sawn in two, . . . killed with the sword. [Going] about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated . . . wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:37) but the enemy will never, no never, succeed in bringing them down to destruction with himself. When Satan heard Jesus say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46), this was in order that those whom the Father has given Jesus might always know they will never be forsaken of Him. I can just imagine Jesus saying, “Get behind me, Satan and beware not to touch those for whom I have died, for it won’t be them, but rather you and your followers who are forever forsaken of God!”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30

2. Jesus Addressed “It is Finished” to Satan

I sometimes wonder if Satan ever thought, in his pride and arrogance, that he was really victorious when, at the beginning of history, Adam and Eve fell for his temptation? He should have known better when he had to have overheard the promise given to Adam and Eve:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Well, we are all the seed of the woman. Through all of his maneuverings he has only bruised our heel. Through his servants, the leaders of the Jews, he “succeeded,” to have Jesus crucified. But this very seemingly success of his spelled doomed and utter and final defeat for his plans.

God’s righteous love has now prevailed on earth. The devil is the great deceiver of men but he has, in the final analysis, only deceived himself.

I wonder if he thought he was successful when he instilled hatred into Cain’s heart so that he murdered his brother Abel? Well, the truth is, he wasn’t a success at all. Cain, not Abel, failed and the devil failed with Cain. On the cross, Jesus has taken vengeance on the enemy of our souls for the blood of Abel.

I also wonder if he thought he was successful when he wiped out the line of separation between the descendants of Seth and the descendants of Cain? Did he rejoice and rub his hands in glee when he heard God, the Almighty Creator say of man that “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5) and “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land . . . for I am sorry that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7)? Did he laugh at Noah when Noah alone preached righteousness among men? Well, it was Christ who witnessed through Noah; it was Christ who prophesied judgment upon unrighteous men. It is Christ who this very day is sending the enemy to the bottomless pit for all his unrighteous instigation of men to rebellion against God Almighty.

Did Satan think that he had succeeded when Abraham, the father of the faithful, failed to trust the promise of God and took the fulfillment of those promises into his own hands? Well, brothers and sisters,  Christ, the great “I Am” is the promised seed of Abraham. Through Christ alone shall the nations of the world be blessed.

When Jesus began His ministry, let’s remember that Jesus and the devil had a person to person confrontation in the wilderness. The enemy sought to persuade Jesus to wipe out the line of distinction between His kingdom and the devil’s kingdom with seemingly “pious” appeal to Scripture.

However, dear believer, remember that Jesus quoted Scripture, too. He proved to the enemy and to all that it is not merely a matter of the words of Scripture but of their sense and meaning. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit has to this very day established the true sense of Scripture in its bearing upon what He as the Messiah came to do. Jesus established the kingdom of truth and of righteousness against the kingdom of the lie and of unrighteousness. Jesus has exposed the enemy for the arch-liar that he is.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30

1. Jesus Addresses the Father – Continued

From Last Lesson: Jesus knows He must go the way He is heading; He will continue on; it is the only way, not only by the will of the Father but as well by His own will.

But now, all of a sudden, the reality of it all seems to overwhelms Him. All the tempests of God’s wrath now overwhelm Him as He hangs on that cross breathing His last breaths. He descends into hell, for what else is hell than to be forsaken of God. Other men enter upon hell as sinners; they know they deserve to be forsaken of God. They have an evil conscience, at the last they affirm the holiness of God; in hell they gnash and grind their teeth at the holy God more than ever for His very holiness, justice and love. But Jesus has no evil conscience. How then could the Father send Him into hell.

Spontaneously He grasps for the words He Himself by His Spirit inspired the Psalmist to write in the twenty-second psalm, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). You can imagine Himself thinking, “Haven’t I kept every jot and every tittle of the law? Doesn’t he who keeps the whole law, by loving God above all and his fellowman as himself, deserve eternal life in Your presence? Yet now, You are casting Me into eternal death!” Any other human being would be thinking those thoughts. Yet Jesus is not like every other human man.

“Get behind Me, Satan. I am not forsaken of My Father for Myself; I am forsaken of the Father for the sake those who deserve to be forsaken. I am forsaken of My Father for them whom the Father Himself has given Me. Satan, you are no longer a hindrance to Me!”

But imagine if you can, that it is then the full reality of God’s forsaking Him was upon Him. The curse of God comes down upon Him from the offended love of the Father. So He cries out: “My God, my God,” not “My Father, my Father.” He no longer sees the smiling face of the Father, or even feels His presence. . . . “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Why? Because only at that moment could He save His people from their sins and only by doing this could He “glorify” the Father on earth. The holy God required this way; there was no other way.

Now, in that instant, all this agony is over. It is finished. No other human being, clutched in the agonies of death and then suddenly and unexpectedly delivered from death, even spoke words with such depth of meaning before. It was as if He were stating, “Father, I have kept My covenant with You.” Now we must remember His previous discourse with His disciples:

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:1-3).

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: John 19:28-30

1. Jesus Addresses the Father – Continued

From Last Lesson: Suddenly, a horror of darkness unspeakably greater even than that of Gethsemane, overwhelms Him. As the darkness of a cave blots out the light of the sun, so the darkness of Jesus taking on the sins of the whole world blots out the smile of the Father.

He knew that in the counsels of eternity He had made covenant with the Father and the Spirit to the effect that for the saving of His people he must be forsaken by His Father.

He knew that Moses and the prophets had spoken of this hour. He knew that He was to be the suffering servant of Jehovah:

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Jesus knew that the ceremony of the great day of atonement, when the High Priest laid the sin of all the people upon a he-goat, to be led into the desert never to return, it was a shadow of what He now must do for sinners who deserved to be sent away from Him forever.

Jesus not only knew all that during His life but went toward its realization quite of His own will. No doubt He was tempted to not walk this way. As the time drew near He spoke often to His disciples of His suffering that He must accomplish at Jerusalem and as He did so His disciples sometimes saw amazement on His face, such amazement as had never been seen on the face of any other man condemned to die by crucifixion. He alone, though sinless Himself, knew the depth of the heinousness of mankind’s sinfulness, for He alone knew the holiness of the Father, being One with the Father.

You can imagine His prayer, “but, Father, is there not some other way?” No, He tells Himself. The only other way would be the way of Satan, the way that Satan had suggested in the wilderness, the way of receiving without being forsaken of God for His people. If He followed that other way then the voice of the seraphim that Isaiah had heard, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) would fall silent. If he followed that other way, the powers of hell would enslave all mankind to everlasting doom, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me” (Matthew 16:23), was His answer whenever that other way presented itself as a temptation to His mind. “My Father, . . . your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). Those are the last words we hear from Jesus’ lips on this subject.

Jesus knows He must go the way He is heading; He will continue on; it is the only way, not only by the will of the Father but as well by His own will.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.