Posts Tagged ‘Death of Jesus’

God’s purpose. No accident. No chance.

Posted: May 18, 2013 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Mark, May
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We come now to Mark’s account of Jesus’ arrest and betrayal.  J.C. Ryle comments on Mark 14: 43-52

Let us notice, secondly, in these verses, how all things in our Lord’s passion happened according to God’s Word. His own address to those who took Him, exhibits this in a striking manner–“the Scripture must be fulfilled.”

There was no accident or chance in any part of the close of our Lord’s earthly ministry. The steps in which He walked from Gethsemane to Calvary were all marked out hundreds of years before. The twenty-second Psalm, and the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, were literally fulfilled. The wrath of His enemies–His rejection by His own people–His being dealt with as a malefactor–His being condemned by the assembly of the wicked–all had been foreknown, and all foretold. All that took place was only the working out of God’s great design to provide an atonement for a world’s sin. The armed men whom Judas brought to lay hands on Jesus, were, like Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib, unconscious instruments in carrying God’s purposes into effect.

Let us rest our souls on the thought, that all around us is ordered and overruled by God’s almighty wisdom. The course of this world may often be contrary to our wishes. The position of the Church may often be very unlike what we desire. The wickedness of worldly men, and the inconsistencies of believers, may often afflict our souls. But there is a hand above us, moving the vast machine of this universe, and making all things work together for His glory. The Scriptures are being yearly fulfilled. Not one jot or tittle in them shall ever fail to be accomplished. The kings of the earth may take counsel together, and the rulers of the nations may set themselves against Christ (Psalm. 2:2), but the resurrection morning shall prove that, even at the darkest time, all things were being done according to the will of God.

God’s arms are open and his hands extended

Posted: September 19, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Luke, September
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John Piper, in a sermon on Luke 23 “Into Thy Hands I Commit My Spirit”

God's HandsWe should remember that God’s arms are open and his hands extended to his dying children. “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” Not: into the grave. Not: into the void. Not: into the dark unknown. But: into the hands of God.

One of the great temptations at the hour of death is to believe that our death is a horrible blow from God and that therefore we are under his wrath and cannot commit our spirit to his care. Let us learn here from Jesus. His death was a horrible blow from God. He became a curse for us. But Jesus did not abandon faith in God’s love for him.

Ryle: This great thing was not to be done in a corner.

Posted: August 21, 2012 by Pam Larson in August, Devotionals/Commentaries, Luke
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In these times of instant news and events being spread across the world like wildfire through social media such as Twitter and Facebook, it might be hard to remember that in the time of Jesus, no one was tweeting or posting their Facebook status. J.C. Ryle comments:

Let us mark, for another thing, in this passage, the public visibility of our Lord’s last entry into Jerusalem.We are told of His riding in on an donkey, like a king visiting his capital, or a conqueror returning in triumph to his native land. We read of a “multitude of disciples” surrounding Him as He rode into the city, “rejoicing and praising God with a loud voice.” The whole history is strikingly unlike the general tenor of our Lord’s life. On other occasions, we see Him withdrawing from public observation, retiring into the wilderness, charging those whom He healed to tell no man what was done. On the present occasion all is changed. Reserve is completely thrown aside. He seems to court public notice. He appears desirous that all should see Him, and should mark, note, and observe what He did.

The reasons of our Lord’s conduct at this crisis of His ministry, at first sight, may appear hard to discover. On calm reflection they are clear and plain. He knew that the time had come when He was to die for sinners on the cross. His work as the great Prophet, so far as His earthly ministry was concerned, was almost finished and completed. His work as the sacrifice for sin and substitute for sinners, remained to be accomplished. Before giving Himself up as a sacrifice, He desired to draw the attention of the whole Jewish nation to Himself. The Lamb of God was about to be slain. The great sin-offering was about to be killed. It was fit that the eyes of all Israel should be fixed upon Him. This great thing was not to be done in a corner.

Forever let us bless God that the death of our Lord Jesus Christ was so widely known and so public an event. Had He been suddenly stoned in some popular tumult, or privately beheaded like John the Baptist in prison, there never would have been lacking Jewish and Gentile unbelievers, who would have denied that the Son of God had died at all. The wisdom of God so ordered events that such a denial was rendered impossible. Whatever men may think of the doctrine of Christ’s atoning death, they can never deny the fact that Christ died. Publicly He rode into Jerusalem a few days before His death. Publicly He was seen and heard in the city until the day that He was betrayed. Publicly He was brought before the High Priests and Pilate, and condemned. Publicly He was led forth to Calvary, and nailed to the cross. The corner-stone and crowning-event in our Lord’s ministry was His death for sinners. Of all the events of His ministry, that death was the one most public, and the one witnessed by the greatest number of Jews. And that death was the “life of the world.” (John 6:51.)

Ryle: The ground of all our confidence

Posted: July 10, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, July, Luke
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J.C. Ryle on the Transfiguration account in Luke 9:

sunset_cross…this passage shows us that the Old Testament saints in glory take a deep interest in Christ’s atoning death. We are told that when Moses and Elijah appeared in glory with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, they “talked with Him.” And what was the subject of their conversation? We are not obliged to make conjectures and guesses about this. Luke tells us, “they spoke of His decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” They knew the meaning of that death. They knew how much depended on it. Therefore they “talked” about it.

It is a grave mistake to suppose that holy men and women under the Old Testament knew nothing about the sacrifice which Christ was to offer up for the sin of the word. Their light, no doubt, was far less clear than ours. They saw things afar off and indistinctly, which we see, as it were, close at hand. But there is not the slightest proof that any Old Testament saint ever looked to any other satisfaction for sin, but that which God promised to make by sending Messiah. From Abel downwards the whole company of old believers appear to have been ever resting on a promised sacrifice, and a blood of almighty efficacy yet to be revealed. From the beginning of the world there has never been but one foundation of hope and peace for sinners–the death of an Almighty Mediator between God and man. That foundation is the center truth of all revealed religion. It was the subject of which Moses and Elijah were seen speaking when they appeared in glory. They spoke of the atoning death of Christ.

Let us take heed that this death of Christ is the ground of all our confidence. Nothing else will give us comfort in the hour of death and the day of judgment. Our own works are all defective and imperfect. Our sins are more in number than the hairs of our heads. (Psalm 40:12.) Christ dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification, must be our only plea, if we wish to be saved. Happy is that man who has learned to cease from his own works, and to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ! If saints in glory see in Christ’s death so much beauty, that they must needs talk of it, how much more ought sinners on earth!

No accident or chance in the steps Jesus walked from Gethsemane to Calvary

Posted: May 18, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, Mark, May
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We come now to Mark’s account of Jesus’ arrest and betrayal.  J.C. Ryle comments on Mark 14: 43-52

Let us notice, secondly, in these verses, how all things in our Lord’s passion happened according to God’s Word. His own address to those who took Him, exhibits this in a striking manner–“the Scripture must be fulfilled.”

There was no accident or chance in any part of the close of our Lord’s earthly ministry. The steps in which He walked from Gethsemane to Calvary were all marked out hundreds of years before. The twenty-second Psalm, and the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, were literally fulfilled. The wrath of His enemies–His rejection by His own people–His being dealt with as a malefactor–His being condemned by the assembly of the wicked–all had been foreknown, and all foretold. All that took place was only the working out of God’s great design to provide an atonement for a world’s sin. The armed men whom Judas brought to lay hands on Jesus, were, like Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib, unconscious instruments in carrying God’s purposes into effect.

Let us rest our souls on the thought, that all around us is ordered and overruled by God’s almighty wisdom. The course of this world may often be contrary to our wishes. The position of the Church may often be very unlike what we desire. The wickedness of worldly men, and the inconsistencies of believers, may often afflict our souls. But there is a hand above us, moving the vast machine of this universe, and making all things work together for His glory. The Scriptures are being yearly fulfilled. Not one jot or tittle in them shall ever fail to be accomplished. The kings of the earth may take counsel together, and the rulers of the nations may set themselves against Christ (Psalm. 2:2), but the resurrection morning shall prove that, even at the darkest time, all things were being done according to the will of God.

Our Substitute

Posted: March 22, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Matthew, Psalms
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We come to the passage in Matthew 27 today that describes the death of our Savior Jesus for us.

    And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” —Matthew 27:46 ESV

After reading our passage in Psalm 69 today, and Spurgeon’s insights into the “mire of sin,” I have a greater appreciation for the immense suffering Jesus experienced.  The weight of sin and the wrath of God added to the intense physical torture that our Lord endured.

J.C.Ryle, in his commentary on Matthew, helps us to understand:

 

Let us observe, in the first place, the remarkable words which Jesus uttered shortly before His death, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

 

There is a deep mystery in these words, which no mortal man can fathom. No doubt they were not wrung from our Lord by mere bodily pain. Such an explanation His utterly unsatisfactory, and dishonorable to our blessed Savior. They were meant to express the real pressure on His soul of the enormous burden of a world’s sins. They were meant to show how truly and literally He was our substitute, was made sin, and a curse for us, and endured God’s righteous anger against a world’s sin in His own person. At that dreadful moment, the iniquity of us all was laid upon Him to the uttermost. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and put Him to grief. (Isaiah 53:10.) He bore our sins. He carried our transgressions. Heavy must have been that burden, real and literal must have been our Lord’s substitution for us, when He, the eternal Son of God, could speak of Himself as for a time “forsaken.”

 

Let the expression sink down into our hearts, and not be forgotten. We can have no stronger proof of the sinfulness of sin, or of the vicarious nature of Christ’s sufferings, than His cry, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” It is a cry that should stir us up to hate sin, and encourage us to trust in Christ.


He stemmed the torrent of almighty wrath, that we might for ever rest in Jehovah’s love.

Posted: March 22, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries
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As I read Psalm 69:1-18 today, I thought of my life and struggles I have faced. I thought of friends facing ugly, impossible situations.  I thought of David and the enemies that were pursuing him.

    Save me, O God!
        For the waters have come up to my neck.
    I sink in deep mire,
        where there is no foothold;
    I have come into deep waters,
        and the flood sweeps over me. —Psalm 69:1-2 ESV

But Spurgeon has a way of getting to the heart. Reading his comments in the Treasury of David opened my eyes to see this passage from the standpoint of Jesus, our Redeemer, who entered the “great dismal swamp” FOR us!

In water one might swim, but in mud and mire all struggling is hopeless; the mire sucks down its victim. Where there is no standing. Everything gave way under the Sufferer; he could not get foothold for support—this is a worse fate than drowning. Here our Lord pictures the close, clinging nature of his heart’s woes. “He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy.” Sin is as mire for its filthiness, and the holy soul of the Saviour must have loathed even that connection with it which was necessary for its expiation. His pure and sensitive nature seemed to sink in it, for it was not his element, he was not like us born and acclimatised to this great dismal swamp. Here our Redeemer became another Jeremiah, of whom it is recorded (Jer 38:6) that his enemies cast him into a dungeon wherein “was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.” Let our hearts feel the emotions, both of contrition and gratitude, as we see in this simile the deep humiliation of our Lord. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. The sorrow gathers even greater force; he is as one cast into the sea, the waters go over his head. His sorrows were first within, then around, and now above him. Our Lord was no fainthearted sentimentalist; his were real woes, and though he bore them heroically, yet were they terrible even to him. His sufferings were unlike all others in degree, the waters were such as soaked into the soul; the mire was the mire of the abyss itself, and the floods were deep and overflowing.

To us the promise is, “the rivers shall not overflow thee, “but no such word of consolation was vouchsafed to him. My soul, thy Well beloved endured all this for thee. Many waters could not quench his love, neither could the floods drown it; and, because of this, thou hast the rich benefit of that covenant assurance, “as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.”

He stemmed the torrent of almighty wrath, that we might for ever rest in Jehovah’s love.

Did Jesus really say…?

Posted: March 21, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Matthew
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And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” —Matthew 27:39-40 ESV

Did Jesus really say he would destroy the temple and build it again in three days?

John Piper, in a sermon, “You Who Would Destroy the Temple and Build It in Three Days”

On Thursday night of Holy Week Jesus was arrested about midnight in the garden of Gethsemane and taken to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, for a preliminary hearing. Mark 14:56–59 goes like this:

For many bore false witness against him, and their witness did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet not even so did their testimony agree.

Mark tells us that the witnesses against Jesus got their stories crossed and contradicted each other. Part of their false testifying was that Jesus had said, “I will destroy this temple.” They couldn’t make it stick.

But why did people all over Jerusalem think Jesus said that, if in fact he didn’t? He must have said something to start this rumor. Yes, he did. One time that we know of he had said something like this, but the people had gotten the meaning (and the wording) all wrong. According to John 2, Jesus entered the temple, found it full of commerce, made a whip, and drove out the money changers.

The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body.

So Jesus had said something about destroying the temple and building it again in three days. But from the one record we have of his own wording, he did not say he would destroy the temple, but only that he would raise it up in three days. His words were, “Destroy this temple (you destroy this temple), and I will raise it in three days.” That’s why the false witnesses at his hearing could not ruin him. He had not said he wanted to destroy any temple. He had said others would destroy it, and he would build it again in three days.

The Jews’ Demand for a Sign

The reason Jesus said this was because the Jews demanded asign to prove his right to take such authority in the temple when he drove out the money changers. “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” And Jesus’ answer is: “When you destroy this temple, I will build it again in three days.” This is essentially the same answer he gave to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 12:38, 39. It says, “Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’” The sign of Jonah coming out alive after three days in the fish and the sign of Jesus rebuilding the temple in three days are the same—they both refer to the resurrection of Jesus. Both these sayings prove that Jesus did predict his death and resurrection. The early church did not make up such difficult sayings and put them in Jesus’ mouth in order to support their hoax. All Jerusalem knew Jesus had said something about rebuilding the temple in three days. There is no escape: Jesus foresaw and predicted not only his death (which an ordinary person could do), but also his resurrection (which no ordinary person could do).

It is a supreme irony, then, that the people at the cross should look on the dying Savior and mock him with their own misunderstanding of this saying. For them it was a boastful claim to earthly power. So they said: If you have such power, save yourself. But for Jesus it was a loving statement of his intention to accept the cross but then to overcome it with his resurrection.

When they cry, “Save yourself, if you have enough power to build this temple in three days,” Jesus could have said, “I will—in three days, after I have lost myself for your sake.” Isn’t this what makes us love Jesus? The immense power at his disposal, like an atom bomb casually carried in his back pocket, but not used on his enemies until he has given all that holy love can give.

To read or listen to the rest of the sermon, click here:

A solar system without a Son?

Posted: March 15, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Matthew
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Matthew 26:2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

J.C. Ryle comments:

We can never attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed. Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun. Let us make much of our Lord’s incarnation and example, His miracles and his parables, His works and His words, but above all let us make much of His death. Let us delight in the hope of his second personal coming and millennial reign, but let us not think more even of these blessed truths, than of the atonement on the cross. This, after all, is the master-truth of Scripture, that “Christ died for our sins.” To this let us daily return. On this let us daily feed our souls. Some, like the Greeks of old, may sneer at the doctrine, and call it “foolishness.” But let us never be ashamed to say with Paul, “Be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14.)

God’s plan to crucify Jesus vs Pilate’s plan to crucify Jesus

Posted: January 4, 2012 by Pam Larson in Acts, Devotionals/Commentaries, January
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Acts 2: 23   “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

John Piper, in a sermon,“Did You Kill the Lord of Glory?”

I can hear a superficial cynic respond to this and say, “What kind of endorsement is that? If God planned to hand over Jesus to be killed, then all he did was link arms with lawless men and help them put Jesus to death! That’s not much of an endorsement.”

The reason that’s a superficial response is because it ignores everything else the Bible has to say about why God planned the death of Jesus. Listen to what Jesus said at the end of Luke’s gospel about why God planned his death. Luke 24:46, “Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.”

In other words God planned the suffering and death of Jesus so that forgiveness of sins could be preached to all the nations (cf. Isaiah 53!). The difference between God’s plan to crucify Jesus and Pilate’s plan to crucify Jesus was that Pilate was rejecting Jesus as mere pretender and God was honoring Jesus as the Servant of the Lord and the Savior of the world. God planned the death of Jesus not to disown him or dishonor him or reject him, but to glorify him as the perfect, flawless Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

God’s plan for Jesus to die was not an indictment like the plan of the Jews, but an endorsement of his infinite worth so that he could save the Jews. Are we with God in this or against him?

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