November 15 - After Three Days

Read: Matthew 27:62-66

and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ (Matthew 27:63 ESV)

Once Jesus' body had been entombed a group of religious zealots gathered before Pilate. This was the same group that had had Jesus murdered. The same group that had regularly pitched a fit over Jesus performing miracles on the Sabbath were gathering with Pilate on the Sabbath to get someone to seal the tomb.

They remembered Jesus' own words. They remembered his promise to rise again. And they were so blinded by their religious idiocy that they thought to thwart it, proof that they never actually comprehended what was about to happen.

Pilate granted their wish. The tomb was sealed. Guards were posted. The religious goons were satisfied. No one was going to steal he body of Jesus. No one would make false claims about his resurrection.

November 13 - Prophecy: Borrowed Tomb

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9 ESV)

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. (Matthew 27:57-60 ESV)

Isaiah lived and prophesied about 700 years before the time of Jesus. His writings have so many references to Christ that his book is often referred to as the fifth Gospel. One of Isaiah's predictions was that Jesus would be buried in a tomb given to him by a rich man.

Joseph of Arimathea was a rich councilman, and a secret follower of Jesus. He used his political power and wealth to influence the Romans to give him Jesus' body for an early burial. All of it happened so fast that Jesus was buried on the same day he was crucified.

Joseph played a pivotal part in the history of Christianity. Do you think he knew how important his tomb would be when he was having it cut? Probably not. But he took his wealth and power and offered them to God to be used for His purpose. It is an incredible lesson.

What we have is not ours alone. We are stewards. How can we use it to bless others? How can we put our assets to work for God's plan?

November 9 - Truly

When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54 ESV)

For everyone who comes to belief in Christ, there is a defining moment, there is the moment that each recognizes Jesus as the unique Son of God. For many it is a change in posture. Where once they were anyagonistic toward faith, they now embrace it openly. For some it is just a moment of clarity where they see it as something they always knew they were looking for and just weren't sure where to find it.

Truly, Jesus was the Son of God. It is the same revelation that changed the face of the Middle Eastern world nearly 2000 years ago. He lived and died a poor traveling teacher and preacher. But he was, and is, the Son of God.

He died at the hands of jealous men. He was murdered unjustly to satisfy justice for all. Truly, he was the Son of God.

November 8 - The Dead Rising

The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:52, 53 ESV)

What happens after you die? That is the question of upmost importance to so many thinkers. There are a multitude of varying opinions and ideas. Some think nothing waits after the last breath is drawn. And for everyone else there many belief systems.

Christianity, like Old Testament Judaism, presents the notion of an afterlife in which you retain your identity. An eternal existence spent in either Heaven or Hell. The remarkable event of the mass revivifaction witnessed after the crucifixion points out the truth of the afterlife. All of those people, called saints, came back for a period. People saw them and knew them.

Jesus died, but what happens when the Immortal One wraps Himself in mortality and allows it to be extinguished? Well, death has no hold on the One who conceived of life itself. Jesus would rise from the dead.

November 7 - Rocky

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. (Matthew 27:51 ESV)

Jesus died and a small yet strong earthquake took place. Why? What about the death of Jesus was so powerful that it caused creation to tremble? I don't know.

Was it a physical manifestation of a spiritual shift that took place? As the work of Christ on the cross was finished, did the the Earth itself react? Or was it something else?

Personally, it is enough for me to read the account and realize that there were physical geological manifestations of Christ's spiritual work. Jesus is the Rock. Upon him lay the hopes, prayers, and foundation for our eternal well-being.

October 30 - Forsaken

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)

Have you ever felt forsaken? Perhaps you have. It's that wretched feeling you get when someone you have absolute trust in has abandoned you. But being forsaken is more than just a feeling of abandonment. It is an action. It is being walked away from. It is having someone turn their back on you in a moment of absolute need.

Jesus needed God the Father for instruction, encouragement, and support. But just in the moment when Jesus' need was greatest God was out of his reach. It sounds absolutely horrible doesn't it? If that were how the story ended it truly would be horrible.

You see, Jesus became the recipient of all human sin, for every person for all of history—past, present, and future. He accepted all of it onto himself. And then he placed himself between us and God the Father. Being a perfect man, in perfect communion with God, he was accustomed to a direct line of communication with God. However, sin interrupted that. Our sin.

As Jesus took the sin of the world, he isolated himself from the glory of God Almighty. God did not forsake Jesus out of anger, malice, or disgust. And he doesn't turn his back on you or I when we find ourselves making poor decisions. No, God forsook the sin that Christ had recieved—sin which exacted its price upon the Son of God. Jesus was momentarily forsaken, but he was not forgotten. Today, the children of God stand in a place made ready by the sacrifice of Christ. A place where Scripture declares that we are neither forsaken nor forgotten.

October 21 - He Trusts God

Matthew 27:39-44

"He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:43 ESV)

Jesus was being ridiculed and mocked as he hung upon the cross. Many gathered nearby to hurl insults aimed at Jesus' assertion that he was the Son of God. The unbelievers present saw opportunity to manipulate the situation for their pleasure. They sarcastically threw Jesus' identity, mission, and role in his face. Jesus never wavered in his trust for God.

When you know who you are in God you can trust Him. And the first part of that is simply knowing God Himself. With a cognitive knowledge and recognition of God and who He is to you comes the opportunity to develop an understanding for the implications that reality has on your own life. Implications that can be so profoundly impactful that they anchor your trust to God. That's the way it was for Jesus.

Once you have came to terms with the identity that flows from God to you—mission is only a heartbeat away. Just as God pours identity into you, He also puts mission before you. Mission is the great purpose for your life. It is you cause. It is God-mandated, divinely appointed. A man on mission will find a level of satisfaction and fulfillment so deeply entrenched in the peace of God that his trust for God will be unshakable.

Identity and mission work together to push you to your role. Identity answers who and whose you are. Mission answers what you should do. Role is the practical application of both—it is about being who you are and doing what you should do.

The mob didn't understand that about Jesus. His trust lay in a place beyond their mental or spiritual capacity to fathom. Yours can too.

October 19 - Prophecy: With Transgressors

Promise: Isaiah 53:12Fulfillment: Matthew 27:38

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12 ESV)

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. (Matthew 27:38 ESV)

Around 700 B.C. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be killed with sinners. Indeed he was crucified between two criminals, one of which came to the faith while hanging on the cross nearby The Lord.

Jesus' mission was to find and save lost people. He came after the transgressors. All of us fall into that category. It is only because of his redemptive work that we find ourselves looking back on that term in the past tense of the word.

Jesus was consistently seen with transgressors, sinners. He kept company with them regularly. He dined with them. Talked with them. And died with them. He knew his mission. And he accomplished it.

October 15 - Crown of Thorns

Mark 15:16-20

And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. (Mark 15:17 ESV) </blockquote>

Shortly after my third birthday I was playing in the front yard of the small house my parents rented. As I pushed this small toy truck along at a three-year-old's pace I ran straight through a large rose bush. To this day I still bare the scar on my arm from the deep cut. Because thorns hurt. They cut. And they cut deep.

Christ's cruel tormentors took sadistic pleasure in fashioning their instrument of agony out of thorns and thrusting it upon his brow. I can only truly imagine how horrible it must have been as the sharp points gouged his skin and scraped along the thin covering of the human skull.

Though he was crowned in mockery and brutality—Jesus was a king. Jesus is a King. He is The King. And in him, you and I find adoption into royalty. We find a calling away that lifts us above our own inadequacies, insecurities, and frailties. Jesus bore that crown of thorns so that we might wear a crown of peace.

October 14 - Scarlet Robes

Matthew 27: 27-31

And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, (Matthew 27:28 ESV)

Have you ever been horribly embarrassed by something? Have you ever felt like all of your problems or insecurities were put on display by someone else? Those kinds of situations can be both heart breaking and deeply shameful.

Jesus was perfectly sinless. He had nothing to hide, no skeletons in his closet, and yet his persecutors still attempted to shame him. They plucked his beard, which was a cultural sign of masculinity. They mocked, beat, and disrobed him—replacing his clothes with garments meant to mock his royalty. They were out to not only kill him, but they were trying to destroy his image.

Jesus claim to divinity reaches across history as unique. Not because he is the only man to ever claim to be God, but because he is the only man ever to actually be God. To those trying to kill him and undermine his message, it won't be done. Try as you might to wrap him in scarlet robes, and parade him through a gauntlet of brutality and cruelty—Jesus is the Son of God. He is God-with-us. Any attempt to mock his royalty only serves to illuminate it.

October 13 - He Has Borne

Isaiah 53:4-6, Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV)

Scourging was a horribly grotesque punishment. It was so barbaric and brutal that many actually died as a result. Yet Jesus endured.

Just as the prophet Isaiah foretold nearly three millennia ago, Jesus was harmed beyond human recognition. I find it comforting to know that as difficult as life may sometimes be, it is not outside of the reach of the comfort of Christ. He was our substitution. He was our replacement.

He has borne our sorrows, anguish, and calamities. He knows the depths of our troubled souls. He has entered into the pit of Hell and returned victorious—brandishing eternal life and salvation for all who would enter his tender care.

October 5 - Envy Jesus

Matthew 27: 15-23

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. (Matthew 27:18 ESV) </blockquote>

Pilate was not a believer. By all accounts he was a stern and sometimes ruthless governor. Yet even he could see that the mob which had handed Jesus over to be killed was pushing for something unjust. And his observations led him to declare that envy was the underlying cause.

Just exactly what were the religious people envious of? Jesus had no money. He had no prestigious titles. He was not a man of remarkable appearance. He had nothing at all by which men so often measure worth and value.

What Jesus had was kindness. He had the Spirit of God. He had unwavering commitment to his cause. He had the power of God working through him. He also had the ear of the people.

His miraculous deeds had granted him a special place on the public eye. His selflessness had promoted him to a level of notoriety that set the religious cadre in a big fuss. They didn't like it. They did like him. And they didn't like the way he messed with their stuff. And for all that disliking they still couldn't help but envy Jesus.

October 1 - Prophecy: Accusation

Promise: Isaiah 53:7-9Fulfillment: Matthew 27:12

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 ESV)

But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. (Matthew 27:12 ESV)

Around 700 B.C. the prophet Isaiah wrote that, though hated and rejected, Jesus would not defend himself. Matthew, when recording his Gospel account, made note of that very thing. Jesus did not attempt to defend himself before the gathering of murderous charlatans.

I can't imagine being in that situation and not standing up for myself. It is an idea that is so totally foreign to my way of thinking. I find it incredibly difficult to roll over int he face of unjust accusation.

But Jesus did it. The Gospel writers make no mention of any attempt by Christ to defend himself during his trial. He endured the accusations, understanding them to be a part of God's plan in some strange way.

It will be hard for me. It's not my style. I might not be able to do it. To be honest, I'm not really sure that I want to. However, I would do well to remember Jesus' response the next time I face undue accusation. We would all do well to remember what Jesus endured before the physical brutality even began.

September 27 - Prophecy: Haters

Promise: Isa. 53:3Fulfillment: Matt. 27:39-44

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV)

In approximately 700 B.C. the prophet Isaiah declared that the Jewish Messiah would be hated and rejected. Jesus was hated and rejected. Numerous examples of his rejections pepper the Gospel accounts.

First he was rejected by the religious elite. Eventually even the common people turned on him as he was paraded in front of them as an apparently powerless failed liberator. He did not match their preconceived ideas for what the Messiah would and should be.

I am continually amazed by the uncanny accuracy of the Old Testament prophets concerning Jesus. Again and again they nailed it. This is a testimony to the power and work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.