When
Jesus said to them “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the
ground. (John 18:5)
Hello
again. Grace and peace to you. Thank you for visiting. My
sabbatical to wait on the Lord to see what He might
have for my life has led me into areas of my life that by His grace
have been cleansed and dismissed. He's led me full circle to my joy
of sharing Christ and His willing work in our lives. I cannot keep
silent concerning the things of the LORD (Jeremiah 20:9).
When
I was a senior in high school I was told by many veterans, “If
you're ever in the military never draw attention to yourself and never
volunteer!” I got their point that to volunteer meant hardship
and headache.
For
years when I read the gospel accounts of Christ's arrest I believed
He had no say in the matter. But recently I have come to understand
that when arrested by the Romans and guards of the High Priest,
Jesus surrendered voluntarily. In fact through His entire trial and
crucifixion every second He had all power and control to stop it and
bring devastating punishment on his accusers. But He voluntarily
chose to endure it.
At His arrest His
power and authority were immediately demonstrated by pushing those men to the ground. At that moment He told Peter He could
call twelve legions of angels to save Him (Matthew 26:53). It is to
be remembered one angel of the LORD went through the army of the
Assyrians besieging Jerusalem and in one night and killed 185,000 of those attacking Jerusalem (2nd Kings 19:35). Think of what twelve legions could have done to the Earth!
Jesus
said He had come at His Father's request to accomplish His will of
redemption (John 12:49, Hebrews 10:7). In fact, this was the
determined will of His Father before the Earth was created
(Revelation 13:8). That means after His arrest He allowed
everything done to Him to satisfy God's wrath against my sins and
yours if we would only believe in Him (Luke 23:42,43, Acts 16:31).
Everything He has done was for this purpose. Before His kingdom
could come sin had to be dealt with first.
All
Jesus did leading to the shedding of His blood on the cross was
voluntary (Hebrews 12:2). Someone rarely would die for a righteous
person but Christ died for all, the unrighteous and
the righteous, for all have sinned (Romans 3:23). And He did it
when He had all power and authority to say “No.” I'm glad He
never listened to anyone who said, “Jesus, never
volunteer for anything.”
Because He did He bridged the gap for us to come approach God without
the blood sacrifices commanded under the Law. He became the final
blood sacrifice for us. He was the Greatest Volunteer in all history
and I'm humbled and grateful that He did. Meditate on that today and
let that fill you with wonder and to voluntarily take Him into your
heart and mind. Blessings to you.
Ken
