Was It Murder? or, A Life Given?

April 2020

In last month's blog we looked at the fact that change and the unexpected can sometimes arrive without warning and put our life into a spin. Little did we know March 1 that our life would be so disrupted before March had barely reached the halfway point. The main month of Lent became a time of not giving up something but giving over our freedoms and schedules to an unseen force - COVID-19.  Furthermore, the change brought with it those terrible twins - Fear and Despair.  It is one thing to go from one day to another or one season to another but one set of the normal routine to total disruption and total change controlled by an unknown force is the perfect set up for overwhelm.

This is the month of Easter.  We are days from Palm Sunday and Holy Week and the solemn days of Good Friday and Easter Saturday culminating with the victorious Day of Resurrection. Jesus identifies with our feelings when he is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Bible tells us that he 'sweat drops of blood', That is intense apprehension and anxiety. He prayed to His Father "If it is possible let this Cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but your will be done."  It was always the determination of Satan to bring down the Kingdom of God and Reign of Jesus. Remember how he tested Jesus in the Wilderness after Jesus had spent 40 days without food in preparation for his time of ministry.  When that didn't succeed Satan used the jealousy of the Religious leaders and greed of one of his disciples to carry out the death of the Son of God.  To the eye of the outsider it could look like Satan finally won the war.  But look again. The Cross loomed as the Final Scene.  The thoughts of betrayal and greed sown in the heart of Judas and the angry opposition of the Pharisees fueled by fear of competition and loss of the authority of fear they had spent decades perfecting were meant to overcome the good with evil. To the untrained eye it looked like Satan had perpetrated the murder of all time.

But we know a different Truth. His life was not taken from Him but Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost clearly set the record straight.

Acts 2:21-24 records it this way:

21 It will be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from the punishment of sin. 22 Jewish men, listen to what I have to say! You knew Jesus of the town of Nazareth by the powerful works He did. God worked through Jesus while He was with you. You all know this. 23 Jesus was handed over to sinful men. God knew this and planned for it to happen. You had sinful men take Him and nail Him to a cross. 24 But God raised Him up. He allowed Him to be set free from the pain of death. Death could not hold its power over Him."

This was not murder - this was the Gift of God and the Supreme submission of Jesus to the will of His Father.  John 3:16 declares that God so loved this world that He gave us His only Son so that whoever would believe on Him would be saved. 

An Irish friend I knew had this amazing saying - Everything is going wrong just right! When we allow God to rule in our life and circumstances the wrongs turn out to be the stepping stones to the best outcome our eyes could not see.  Satan had a momentary sense of achievement until Easter Saturday. Jesus was not lying in the tomb resting. He was down in the depths of Hell itself warring with Satan and wresting the Keys of Death and Hell from Satan's control and Ephesians 4:8-10 states that Jesus then led captivity  captive triumphing over him (Satan).

The "It is Finished" on the Cross was sealed with the Resurrection of the Victorious Risen Christ and our future was secured for all Eternity.

Do not Fear! Do not be dismayed with what the natural world is telling you. Look unto the victorious Jesus - in His hands He holds the Keys. He was the willing One who gave His Life and He is the Victorious Savior who welcomes all that will believe.

David and Cherie Rodway