July 17, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven facets on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.’” (Zechariah 3.9)

“A thousand years in your sight, o Lord, are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90.4 and 2 Peter 3.8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I believe we tend to forget that height, breadth and depth of what Jesus suffered for us on the cross. Literally, Jesus had been struggling with the event that was inevitable before Him long before He reached Jerusalem. He had been telling His disciples for weeks about what was going to happen: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sin-filled men to be condemned to death, crucified and buried but who in three days will be raised up from the grave and live.” He said it. The disciples heard it but refused to listen or blindly declared, “Then let’s go and die with Him.” Jesus was speaking of serious business. The disciples spoke with an immature Messianic gesture. Take away those weeks leading up to His entry into Jerusalem (“Triumphant Entry” might be a sentimentality because most all of those who clamored for His arrival turned around six days later and called for His execution) and we are brought to a less than 24 hour period. This is where I have paused to reflect upon the verse 9 with Psalm 40/2 Peter 3, “A thousand years in your sight, o Lord, are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night.” Have you ever considered what “it seemed like a lifetime” would mean in terms of Jesus? Literally, Jesus was only 33 when He was crucified, dead and buried. We know of others, and perhaps in our own lives, where a lifetime exceeded far less. In some instances, tragically, even less meant “in the womb” where God foreknew us all. Did it really seem like a “lifetime” for Jesus as He journeyed from Bethany two miles to Jerusalem where He would celebrate the Passover with His disciples in the Upper Room? Did it seem like a lifetime when He knelt at their feet, including Judas of Kerioth, to wash them emblematic of the servant leadership He was promoting among them? Did it seem like a lifetime when He dipped His bread alongside Judas into the cup of blessing and promise and then sent him out saying “What you are about to do, go, and do so quickly”? Did it seem like a lifetime as He prayed for the remaining disciples in the Upper Room knowing He had passed the point of no return? Did it seem like a lifetime as He led them away from the Upper Room, out the city gate, through the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Olives there to worship and pray? Did it seem like a lifetime as He continued to find the disciples asleep on their watch as the fog gathered around them cloaking the approach of Judas who was doing quickly what he had set out to do? Did it seem like a lifetime as He confronted the Temple guards and Roman military back-up while Peter took a sword and removed Malchus ear with the intent of removing his head? Did it seem like a lifetime as He was marched back and forth between Jewish and Roman authorities who questioned and judged Him with the intent of condemning Him to death? Did it seem like a lifetime as the Roman guards mocked, scourged and burdened Him with the implements of destruction? Did it seem like a lifetime when He took up His own cross to follow the path of destiny up Golgotha’s Hill and there suffer the anguish of crucifixion as any other criminal of the state? Did it seem like a lifetime as He was breathing His last breaths offering forgiveness to His executioners and judges, showing compassion on His mother and the few followers who dared to gather near His cross and ultimately to release His hold on His own spirit in surrendering to God’s will be done? Did it seem like a lifetime to offer forgiveness to the penitent thief and suffer the outrageous fortune of the unforgiving thief who put to words what others were thinking? Did it seem like a lifetime to lay in the tomb awaiting the third day and His triumphant release?

Mighty ones, I plead with you that you consider the remembrance of His time that day in those twenty-four hours which were symbolic of His lifetime not on earth but in heaven. When Jesus died, He died for all of our sins: past, present and future. His willingness to give His life as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins spanned thousands of years! What David and Peter considered “a day is as a thousand years” didn’t even touch the volume of time and lives which Jesus bore upon His shoulders there on Calvary and the journey to it beginning in a shepherding cave near Bethlehem. “For such a time as this,” we might hear echoing from the words associated with Queen Esther, was Jesus prepared to do for us what we could not and cannot do for ourselves. He took upon Himself our lifetimes; billions and billions of lives. He took them all upon Himself whether they believed in Him or not. He took upon Himself their acceptance and their rejections. He had to bear them both so that justice would be served. This is the fate of the One who was, is and will always be King of kings and Lord of lords, Immanuel. What is the old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day?” What do we think about when we consider the promise of God to take away all our sins “in a day.” How do we think it feels for ourselves and then multiply it by everyone who has lived, is living and will come into life in the days that have not yet passed? But God was able to do what He promised because of “so great a love as His.” Mighty ones, let us be humbled by God’s perfect “timing.” Let us be ever mindful of it as the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years of our lives proceed forward in the Kingdom of God on earth as it shall be in Heaven!

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.