Good morning NWBC family. How are all of you doing? These are some really strange times and we find ourselves in uncharted areas, so that is why it is so important that we stay in touch with each other. I was looking through Facebook and other things on the internet and have come across quite a few interesting quotes and “philosophies” about all that is going on. Here are a few:
“They’re predicting this will be a rough week for America. It was a rough week for Jesus too, but just look at the outcome. Sunday is coming”
Speaking of how contagious the Coronavirus is someone wrote this: ALSO HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS IS Kindness, Patience, Love, Enthusiasm, and a Positive Attitude. Don’t wait to catch it from others, be the carrier.
There’s never a place where we’ll be that He’s not already there.
With church doors closed across the globe, it is time for us to show that the Church has never been about the building. WE are the Church!
The biggest problem is not dying from a virus. The biggest problem is dying without Jesus.
After the President’s news conference was over, one of the reporters made the observation that for the first time in our nation’s history we won’t be celebrating Easter. Well let me tell you one thing, he’s dead wrong. We might not celebrate what Easter has become in that there may be no new clothes bought for that Sunday. We might not hide and hunt eggs in mass quantities. We may not travel home to attend church with our family. We might not see some folks at our worship services that we haven’t seen since Christmas, but we’re going to Celebrate Easter. As a matter of fact, every Sunday is Easter Sunday. Every time we assemble for worship we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Pilate couldn’t kill Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. You think the Coronavirus is going to stop Easter. More people this year will hear the gospel than any other Easter before.
Easter is not just about special programs. It’s not about the trumpet call or the mass crowds. It’s the fact that we serve a living Savior who is still transforming lives today. Easter is not only about His resurrection, but our ability to rise with Him. Easter is about the hope of tomorrow and the gift of everlasting life. Yes indeed, we will celebrate. We’ll celebrate what God did for all of us at Calvary. How? By remembering Him. By loving Him. By worshipping Him. By praising Him. Easter for us is everyday. Let the celebration begin.
There are so many more that I could share with you and perhaps I will as I come across them. Perhaps you could do the same? I really want to ask you to focus on what you have in Jesus. All of this virus stuff can be pretty scary. The fear of the unknown. You may doing your very best to steer clear of any possibility of being exposed to it and yet somehow, one way it comes to your from door. Don’t ever forget that if you are a child of the King, you are in the palm of His hand and there is no better place to be. Death is scary. Psalm 23 calls times like this “…the valley of the show of death…” and yet it goes on to say that God is with me. For a Christian, death is the entrance into eternity with God. I have always found the following to be an interesting passage of Scripture. Jesus is praying for believers in John 17:20-26 and is talking to His Father about His desire for all of us to be one and then He says that He wants those that the Other has given Him “…to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory…”. Do you realize what Jesus is saying? He is telling His Father I want____________ (fill in the blank) to be with Me where I am. Where is Jesus? He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Where is that? In heaven. What do you suppose that will be like? Beyond our wildest imagination. How do we get there? Unless Jesus comes back to get us, we must die. What? We must physically die. That is scary. That is not the way it was supposed to be. Those of us who have loved ones that were followers of Jesus who have died are already with Jesus and it is awesome.
My intention is not to be morbid, but to give you hope. Sure this is scary stuff but to be absent from the body means that you are in the presence of Jesus and it does not get any better than that. Live with hope. Live without fear. Live knowing that we will be together again for all eternity.
Well, that was my rambling before we take move on in our study of the seven statements that Jesus made as He hung on the cross. As I said last time, His words are few, but they sure are deep. Previously, we looked at the first four statements:
Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:43 “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
John 19:26-27 ‘When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “here is your mother…”’
Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34. ‘About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” -which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”’
The passage that we are going to look at today is found in John 19:28 ‘Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”’
Hours earlier, Jesus was offered a drink vinegar, gall and myrrh which was usually offered to serve as a mixture to alleviate suffering, but Jesus refused. Why? Why did Jesus refuse the mixture? This was one more mockery of Jesus in that the wine that they offered was mixed with gall which was a bitter herb that could even be poisonous and deadly. This could have been an easy out for Jesus. Just put Him out of His misery kind of thing. Jesus bore the full brunt of the wrath of God and did not look to take the short-cut.
The passage tells us that Jesus said this “…so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” What Scripture? Psalm 69:21 says: “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.” The Psalmist goes on in the rest of the Psalm to call down curses on his enemies whereas Jesus did not do that, but instead pray for mercy on them. Jesus said that He was thirsty and He accepted the cheap wine to perhaps wet his lips. This may not have only prolonged His life, but it also prolonged His agony. Perhaps it was so that He would be able to cry out in victory “It is finished” for all to hear. This sour wine would have been the cheap beverage that the soldiers used to satisfy their thirst, but the thirst to which Jesus may have very well been testifying to must have been far more severe than anything that the wine could have satisfied.
We are also reminded in this statement that Jesus was fully human as well. He bore the weight of all of our sin in His body which was beaten, abused, spat upon and crucified for you and for me. Jesus thirsted. Are you thirsty to know the love and mercy and grace and peace that comes from knowing Jesus? Do you fully understand and realize what He did for you and for me? Once again I want to encourage you to spend some time reading the passages of
Scripture around the cross..Open your Bibles and read Matthew 26:36-27:56, Mark 15,
Luke 22:47-23:49, and John 18:1-19:37. Read separately from each Gospel in separate sittings and meditate on it. Imagine yourself in the shoes of someone at the foot of the cross who is watching all that is taking place. May God use His Word to make you different in this time of turmoil around the world.