October 31 - Midnight at Noon

Luke 23:44-49

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:44, 45 ESV)

Supernatural events surrounded Jesus' crucifixion. It was the day that Hell leveraged all it had to do all it could, and failed. Jesus could, and would be killed, but he would not be stopped. He would not stay dead. His life would be the catalyst for the hope of humanity and his death would be the event that would change human destiny forever.

Darkness covered Jerusalem that day. The huge curtain that separated the priests from God fell into two pieces. Dead people left their tombs and wandered the area. It was a significant day.

Evil things were meant for mankind. Satan's schemes had reached their apex. Jesus would die. But the apparent victory was actually defeat.

The Father had always known the Son would need to die for humanity. He had ordained it since before the foundations of the earth. He had whispered it into the hearts of prophets for thousands of years.

The light of the world hung upon a cross, and the world went dark. Earthquakes happened. People believed. And people have never stopped believing.

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 29 - Prophecy: Lots & Bones

I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. (Psalm 22:17, 18 ESV)

so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, (John 19:24 ESV)

One thousand years before the birth of Christ David foretold some explicit details of our savior's murder. He saw the nature of the bloody scourging which would leave him bloodied and exposed. He saw that the executioners would cast lots for the Messiah's clothing.

David was far from a perfect man or king, but he was called a "man after God's own heart." Not because of his perfection, but in-spite of his imperfections. David was a guy that had the ability to overcome his own hangups and follow God's will for his life. David wasn't perfect, but God used him to prophecy about the coming of another king—a perfect king.

David's prophecies came true. Jesus was scourged until his ribs and bones were exposed. It was horrible. He was killed on the cross, and his murderers gambled for his clothing. And while the specific details of Christ's death are gruesome and tragic, the end result is glorious, and beautiful. That God would use imperfect people to point ahead to the perfect one, sent to rescue us from our imperfection, is pretty incredible!

October 28 - You Will Be

Luke 23:43

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43 ESV)

The Romans crucified Jesus with at least two other criminals. One of those hurled insults, but the other recognized his guilt and asked Christ for mercy. Jesus responded by declaring that the man would be in Paradise with him that very day.

When Jesus speaks it is true. The Bible itself is often referred to as the Word of God. Jesus is called at the beginning of John's Gospel the Word made flesh. Jesus words are always true. They were true when first uttered some 2,000 years ago. They are true today, and still so tomorrow.

When Jesus says "You will be," then you will be. It's a certainty. What is it you can hear him saying in your soul?

You will be....

October 27 - Divine Ignorance

Luke 23:32-38

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34a ESV)

"Ignorance is bliss" may be one of the more reckless idioms of this age. But the effects of uninformed action stretch across the destiny of man. Jesus had compassion on his murderers not because of their ignorance, but because of their actions.

Being ignorant, or devoid of knowledge pertaining to something, is not a sin. If such were the case we would all be in a lot of trouble, especially me. But when the lack of knowledge or wisdom carries over to sinful disobedience we are without excuse for our actions.

Jesus prayed a prayer for his tormentors from the cross. He clenched nail-pierced hands and raised his bloodied brow, adorned by broken thorns, to heaven—praying a declarative prayer of intercession. There upon the cross he began the work of interceding on our behalf with the Father.

The sin of man killed Christ. Committing a murder he was born for. And in his death he forgave those who killed him. Because only Jesus could excuse the inexcusable.

October 26 - Not A Kindness

John 19:28-30

A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. (John 19:29 ESV)

I remember reading the crucifixion story early in my teens and thinking that the executioners had decided to show a measure of mercy to Jesus by offering him wine. Later in life I learned better. That action was not one borne out of kindness, compassion, or mercy.

The Romans had developed a crude system of public toilets, basically just holes to sit on. The poor would capitalize on the opportunity for income by carrying sponges on sticks. They would dip them in sour wine and offer to clean the fecal waste from those using the public restroom for an extremely small fee. This is the same type of sponge which was offered to Jesus.

He came and lived blameless, sinless, and clean. The final hours of his life were marked with horrors, shame, and violence—and one final showing of apparent mercy turned out to really just be a sickening act of disrespect and contempt. No, Jesus was shown no measure of mercy or kindness by his captors.

Not only did Christ take on sin. Not only did he receive a beating, be he was horribly mutilated. He was deeply shamed. He was even force fed the equivalent of ancient toilet water. It was the culmination of all that Hell could muster. An attempt to mire the Son of God in the lowest muck of man. The kindness of Christ crucified by the cruelty of man.

October 25 - Waiting for Elijah

Matthew 27:45-50

But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” (Matthew 27:49 ESV)

Elijah was an Old Testament prophet that took part in some truly remarkable things. But he was just a man. The second Book of Kings records his story. He had a miracle-filled ministry which only ended when he was called away into heaven by a flaming chariot. Pretty intense stuff.

As Jesus called out to God from the cross he was experiencing a truly incomprehensible moment. It was the only time in the history of the cosmos that God would turn his back on someone. Jesus had taken on all sin, and God couldn't bear the sight of it. Bus as Jesus called out the people nearby misunderstood him. They thought he called for Elijah.

Why would they make such a big mistake? Was it a language issue, an issue of misinterpreted mission, or something else? I think it was something else.

All along people had misrepresented Jesus as a common prophet who did uncommon things. But he was more. He was God with us. So when he cried out they interpreted his cries with the same mistaken lens through which they had come to believe that he would be a military conqueror. He was speaking of sin and God, and they were concerned with a prophet that had lived nearly 700 years before.

The Jews weren't really waiting for the messiah. They weren't ready for Jesus. They were ready for someone that could fit into their well-defined job roles. He never came. So, even as they were crucifying their king—they were waiting on Elijah"

October 24 - Not Alone

John 19:25-27

but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. (John 19:25 ESV)

Recently a string of rather unexpected deaths have rocked several of my friends. Death is a difficult thing to deal with. Even when you have the assurance that a person was a believer it is still tough to have them suddenly out of your life. Even though it is a temporary removal.

Jesus' mother had to have been emotionally devastated by the events of Jesus' execution. She had known from before his birth that he would face the inevitable brutality, but that wouldn't have made it any easier. Thankfully there were friends around her to help her through it.

Jesus, from his cross, even appointed his youngest apostle, John, to watch over Mary. He took care of his mom. He didn't want her to face life alone. It begs a curious question that I don't really know the answer to. Where was Jesus' adopted father Joseph?

The bible doesn't really answer that question, but the point is that Jesus wanted Mary to be taken care of. Even in his final moments he was concerned for others. He didn't love his life alone, he didn't die alone, and he doesn't wish that his people would go it alone either.

October 23 - His Garments

John 19:23-24

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, (John 19:23 ESV)

As Jesus was hanging on the cross the Roman soldiers in charge of his death were dividing his clothes amongst themselves. They saved his tunic, probably the only valuable possession he had, for last. It was special, made from only one piece of material rather than a stitched together patchwork garment.

The symbolic nature of the pagan Romans acquiring Christ's clothing is very interesting. Jesus is regularly referred to as the second Adam. God took the hides of animals and used them to clothe Adam and Eve after their initial sin.

Christ's death and resurrection created a renewed opportunity for relationship with God. The New Testament writings at one point even mention that we wear the righteousness of Christ. Our sin is our own, but our righteousness is his. We have none. We, like the Romans who divided his clothes, are wrapped in his garments.

October 22 - Remember Me

Luke 23: 39-43

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42 ESV)

Jesus endured ridicule from the mob, from the soldiers, and even from the criminal hanging near by. But one of them was afraid. One of them recognized his own sinfulness, and the justice being delivered by his punishment. That man cried out to Jesus. Maybe it was desperation, I am not the judge of that, regardless of the motive—he appealed to the mercy of Christ—asking to be remembered. Christ promised that that very day they would be together in Paradise.

Maybe you can remember a similar moment, a time when you cried out for the mercy of Christ, asking him to remember you. I remember multiple moments in my life when I cried out to him. I have come to believe this; Jesus remembers me.

Truthfully, I don't always make it through every day feeling like a strong believer. I make mistakes. Often. Jesus remembers me. He remembers the me that cried out for him in earnest. And he helps me find my way back to that place. What does Jesus remember about you?

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 20 - Choosing to Believe

Mark 15:21-32

"Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. (Mark 15:32 ESV)

As Jesus hung upon the cross there were many people gathered to watch the horrible event unfold. Many of the onlookers were hostile, but not all of them. Some that had gathered were believers, and still others were not. Those that had yet to believe were frightening the cruelty of the crucifixion by heaping prideful mockery upon Christ.

We don't know the numbers but many people who followed Jesus to Golgotha where he was crucified were there to lament and mourn for him. There also were those present who did not believe. But the one defining difference in the two groups was their ideas about who Jesus was. It was a difference of belief.

My position is that belief is a choice. You choose what you do or do not believe. The scribes and religious people regularly asked Jesus to perform signs, but when he did they didn't meet their super religious criteria, or they somehow cut out their scandalous religious pyramid scheme. So those guys chose not to believe in Jesus despite all the miracles he had performed in front of their eyes.

They taunted him. Casting their doubts in the form of dangling skepticism and might-have-been-belief, but the simple truth is that they had chosen not to believe Jesus was the messiah. What do you believe?

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 18 - Prophecy: Crucifixion

Promise: Psalm 22:16Fulfillment: Luke 23:33

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— (Psalm 22:16 ESV)

And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. (Luke 23:33 ESV)

The Old Testament king David prophesied about a thousand years before Christ's birth that Jesus would be crucified. A prophecy that was written hundreds of years before the invention of crucifixion—clearly alluding to the horrible way in which Jesus would be nailed to the cross.

The mere thought of having nine inch metal spikes driven through my hands and feet is horrendous. Yet Jesus knew all along that it was to be his fate. As a kid he must have seen other men crucified. I wonder what passed through his mind.

Jesus did not shy away from that which he had set out to do. He followed through, even as he was pierced through. He knew the promise of Old Testament prophecy, and he embraced the markings of his messianic destiny, even as he secured the promise for our eternal salvation.

October 17 - Compelled

Matthew 27: 32-34 & Luke 23:26

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. (Matthew 27:32 ESV)

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. (Luke 23:26 ESV)

When Simon of Cyrene left home with his family I doubt he imagined that he would play a key role in an event that would forever change the destiny of mankind. He was compelled, the text says, to carry the cross. He was forced by armed men already on their way toward savage murder. He had no choice. It was not voluntary compulsion.

I wonder if Simon knew what was happening. I wonder if he had heard of Jesus, or would come to an understanding later. I wonder if Simon and Jesus sit and talk about that day every once in a while.

Sometimes we are compelled. Voluntary or not, take heed of that which you find yourself compelled to do. It could be that you too are caught up in a story bigger than any you ever imagined.

October 16 - A Great Multitude

Luke 23:26-31

And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. (Luke 23:27 ESV)

I used to always have this image of Jesus being crucified as a rejected messiah who was only finally revered after his resurrection from death. But Luke's telling of the crucifixion scene is remarkably different than how I had always imagined it.

Jesus was rejected, but it was by religious people. There was a mob at his farce of a trial, but they were hand picked pretenders with no credibility, no evidence, and no case. As Jesus was led away to his death a throng of people, a great multitude, followed him mourning for the horrors to come.

Jesus was always followed. He gathered people to himself like no other. People were drawn to his life-giving spirit and humble authority. He was fun. He was earnest. He was loved.

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 12 - Insurrection & Murder

Luke 23:18-25

He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. (Luke 23:25 ESV)

Barabbas was a known murderer. He had led an attempt at a full blown uprising. Usually that type of activity was met with swift and brutal retribution in the Roman world. However, for some reason Barabbas had been left on prison to rot. When it would have came time for him to have faced justice, Jesus was there to take his place.

Jesus took his place! Barabbas deserved justice. He deserved the full extent of the law, but he didn't face it because Jesus took his punishment.

You and I face our own punishment. We have sinned, we deserve an end that often reflects a lifetime of selfishness and immorality. But Jesus didn't die for your morality. He died to make you family. Why? Because he is more interested in the criminal than the crime. He took the place of a murder.

Regardless of background, moral slant, and failures—Jesus stands in for you. Barabbas' freedom was purchased by the death of Christ. So is ours.