SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/19/2019
9:07 AM
In today’s SD I want to write some things about what
Christians call “Good Friday,” and give you some of my thoughts on this day, as
what is celebrated on this day is that Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross
almost 2000 years ago, and He did that in order to pay for the sins of all who
will accept His sacrifice.
I
am not sure if it was a Friday that Jesus died on or not. I remember two former Pastors that I sat
under, both are now with the Lord, and one of them said that Jesus died on a Wednesday
and the other on a Thursday. Both of
their messages had to do with the statement that Jesus made that just as Jonah
was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights that He would be
in the grave for three days and three nights.
So after listening to those two different sermons I was convinced of
both of them at the time I heard them.
Let me say for certain that Jesus Christ died on what is called
Passover, that I am sure of. Let me also
say that Jesus Christ was in charge of when He died, and the entire situation
that led to His arrest, and eventual beatings along with His crucifixion. This had to be the case for Jesus Christ is
God incarnate and thus in control of all things especially when it was that He
would die on the cross. As you read
through the Scriptures you find that the Pharisees wanted to put Jesus to
death, but they stated not during the feast, and that feast was the Passover
celebration, however Jesus had to die on the Passover, for Paul writes in 1
Cor. 5:7b “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Yes Jesus is our Passover Lamb as John states
in the first chapter of his gospel: “Joh
1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world! Joh 1:36 and he looked at
Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"
The
Passover lambs would be slain at 3:00 PM on the day of the Passover, and so
after Jesus had accomplished paying for our sins on the cross, which is the
reason that He was born, and the reason that He came to earth He cried out “It
is finished,” and died at 3:00 PM the exact same time that the Passover lambs
were slain. It was during the three dark
hours that He hung on the cross, the time that as we look at Him in the garden
when He was sweating great drops of blood, the time that He dreaded, but the
time that He knew was why He came that the Father was pouring out the
punishment that we deserve, the punishment of paying for our sins, the
punishment that the Father accepted as payment for our sins, that once
accomplished he said “it is finished.” Joh
19:30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!"
And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”
The Greek word translated “it is finished is “teleo tel-eh’-o” The word means “to bring to a
close, to finish, to end.” The following
is also seen in my Greek/English dictionary:
“"It is finished or paid" Joh 19:30
Christ satisfied God’s justice by dying
for all to pay for the sins of the elect. These sins can never be punished
again since that would violate God’s justice. Sins can only be punished once,
either by a substitute or by yourself.”
It
was during our Sunday school class a couple of weeks ago that as we were
studying the battle of Armageddon in the 19th chapter of Revelation
that one of the ladies in the class asked for more details on that battle, to
which I was not able to answer the question in a manner that I wanted to and so
I began to think about this question the following days. The answer to that question is found in the
pages of the Old Testament as that is where the different OT prophets described
that last battle. This also got me
thinking about the details about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and these
details are also found in the OT. Isaiah
52-53 along with Psalm 22 speaks of this.
When you read from Isaiah 52-53 it is almost as if you are standing at
the foot of the cross, and Psalm 22 describes the awful details of crucifixion
some 1000 years before Jesus experienced it.
I began to think about my study in the 22nd Psalm and about a
quote from Henry Morris on the word “worm” this morning and that is when I
decided to, and my prayer is that this is what the Lord was leading me to do,
and that is write something this morning about “Good Friday.” So the following quote from Henry Morris is
what we will finish this SD with.
Henry Morris Writes this about the “Scarlet Worm:”
Bible & Science tape series
Henry Morris
Henry Morris
Look at the 22nd Psalm. This is the great Psalm of
the crucifixion of Christ written 1,000 years before it was fulfilled. It
describes in great detail the sufferings of Christ on the cross. "My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" he cries out. Then down in verse
6...he says "But I am a worm (08438), and no man; a reproach of men, and
despised of the people." What did he mean by saying "I am a
worm"?...This particular worm is different from other kinds of worms.
There are different kinds of worms, different varieties, but this is a
particular worm. It means more than just he is not a man. Isaiah 52 says,
"His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the
sons of men." He was literally made corruption personified; he didn't even
look like a man there on the cross; it is talking about more than that here. He
says "I am a worm and no man." This is a scarlet worm and the reason
it was called that was because it had the ability to secrete a scarlet fluid
which was used in making the scarlet dye that they used in ancient days. As a
matter of fact, when you find the word "scarlet" in the bible, it's
the same word. "Though your sins be as scarlet," it's the same word
exactly. The worm was identified with the crimson color. The life cycle of that
worm is something like this: when the mother worm was ready to give birth to
the baby worms, she would find the trunk of a tree, a post or a stick somewhere
and then she would plant her body in that wood and she would implant her body
so firmly in it that she could never leave it again. And then the young would
be brought forth and the mother's body would provide protection for the babies
as long as they needed before they could get out and take care of themselves.
Then the mother would die, and in the process, the scarlet fluid would stain
her body and the body of the young and the tree and so on. The Lord Jesus said
"I am like that scarlet worm." He's making peace through the blood of
his cross; he's bringing many sons into glory through the suffering. And this
is a graphic testimony of the fact that eternal life comes out of the suffering
and death of the Son of God.
4/19/2019 9:40 AM
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