Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

October 21, 2021

10/21/2021

And Then There Were the Women

        Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and mother of the sons of Zebedee. Matt. 27:55, 56, NASB

    Women!

    Are they all that important? One would have to wonder by the record of a historic Christianity dominated overwhelmingly by males. But the Gospel writers seem to be of a different opinion. To them the women and their witness and ministry to Jesus were crucial to the story.

    Matthew completes his presentation of the Crucifixion by telling us that there were "many women" there as witnesses. All four Gospels tells us that women remained at the cross until the end.

    But where were the men? After Peter's repeated denial of Jesus, the only disciple Scripture mentions is John "the disciple whom he loved" (John 19:26, RSV). And John appears only in the fourth Gospel. Where are the men? Hiding most likely. After Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane they fled as fast as their legs could carry them. They had no desire at the time, apparently, to be too close to a condemned criminal.

    Against that background of male failure, the courage and devotion of the women shines forth all the more brilliantly.

    Matthew tells us not only that there were "many women," but that they were watching from "a distance." We don't know why they didn't come closer. It may have been that it was not safe to get too close to an execution when Jesus' enemies were in control. Perhaps it may be that it wasn't proper for women to attend a crucifixion. Or it could have been that they wanted to put some distance between themselves and the mockers.

    What we do know is that they were close enough to hear when Jesus assigned His mother to John's care. But the most important thing we learn about those women is they were there at all.

    In the absence of the male disciples, they provided support and a show of loyalty to the suffering Jesus when He needed it most. But this was not some new development. Matthew indicates that they had followed Him all the way from Galilee, ministering all the while to His needs. All along they had supplied the penniless Jesus what He had required for bodily survival. They had assumed the role of servant that Jesus' male followers had shunned.

    May God continue to bless the ministry of the women among us.

October 20, 2021

10/20/2021

Firstfruits of the Cross

        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!" Matt. 27:54, ESV.

    Filled with awe." That is undoubtedly an understatement. One can only picture that Roman captain and his soldiers trembling at the supernatural darkness and the powerful earthquake and the victory-shouting death of this strange Captive whom they had been guarding.

    We need to look a little more carefully at this centurion. He was undoubtedly a hardened man. Only such a person could stand up to the difficult duty of keeping down the boisterous population of Palestine. The Jews had no use for the Romans and made their contempt open through both minor and major acts of sabotage. The Romans reacted in kind. Violence had met violence on a consistent basis. The very centurion at the foot of Christ's cross had almost certainly participated in many crucifixions and witnessed people die the most agonizing of deaths. It was all part of his job.

    But he sensed something different about this man, this death. As a result, we find an individual, who only a few minutes before may have been participating in cruel jesting, now confessing at the moment of Jesus' death that "Truly this was the Son of God." Even to this Gentile soldier and some of his men it was clear that there was something in the death of Jesus, together with the accompanying phenomena, that showed that He was not just another human being.

    In the centurion's confession we find the beginning of the fulfillment of a prophecy that Jesus had made earlier: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). Jesus had foretold the magnetic power of the cross. Now we find in the centurion the firstfruits of Christ's cross.

    We should not overlook his declaration that Jesus was the Son of God. That was God's declaration at His baptism. It was Peter's breakthrough insight on the nature of Messiahship on the road to Caesarea Philippi. And now we find that truth in the mouth of a Gentile. With that the earthly story of the One who was to be "God with us" has come full circle.

    Christ our Savior has the power to save because of who He is. And His cross is still drawing men and women to His divine person.

October 19, 2021

10/19/2021

A Special Resurrection

        And the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matt. 27:51-53, NKJV.

    At the same time as Christ's last victory cry and death several other events took place. Yesterday we examined the tearing of the Temple curtain. Another simultaneous happening was a massive earthquake that shook the entire area and apparently split open the earth in major fissures in several places. Whereas the rending of the curtain was not visible to all, everybody experienced the fearful earthquake.

    A third supernatural incident at the death of Jesus was a special resurrection of some who had died. The only Gospel writer to mention it is Matthew. And in his account the sequence of events is not entirely clear. What he seems to be telling us is that the earth-shattering earthquake not only "split" rocks but also opened up many tombs. From the text above it is not clear if the individuals in those tombs arose at the time of His death or at His own resurrection. The latter seems to be the meaning of the passage. If that is so, the picture is of some of God's faithful ones arising out of their opened tombs on Resurrection morning and going into the city to bear witness to the power of Christ to resurrect.

    The Bible does not tell us who these raised individuals were, and most commentators don't speculate on their identity. Ellen White makes the plausible suggestion that "they were those who had been co-laborers with God, and who at the cost of their lives had borne testimony to the truth" (The Desire of Ages, p. 786). Paul alludes to the fact that when the risen Jesus Himself later ascended to heaven He took the raised ones with Him (see Eph. 4:8).

    We should not confuse this special resurrection with the general resurrection that occurs at the Second Advent. A limited number of faithful arose with Christ, but the bulk of God's people will sleep in their graves until His appearing at the end of time (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-53).

    What we do find in the event reported by Matthew is a clear teaching on the power of Christ to resurrect His followers. Because He lives, we shall also.

October 18,2021

10/18/2021

An Earthly Symbol of Heavenly Things

        And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Matt. 27:51

    At the very moment that Jesus cried "It is finished" and died on His cross, the curtain in the Temple ripped in two. Here we find one of the great symbols of the meaning of His death.

    That curtain separated the two apartments of the Temple. Only the officiating priests could enter the first apartment, designated the holy place. But the second was even more sacred. Into that Most Holy Place only the high priest could enter, and he but once a year on the Day of Atonement, the day of Israel's year-end judgment.

    The Gospel writers carefully point out that the curtain was torn "from top to bottom." Given the fact that the curtain was approximately 60 feet in height, the directional description of its ripping signifies a supernatural act, since a human tearing would have been from the bottom to top.

    The rending of that massive curtain signified several things. First, that the old system of ceremonies and sacrifices that pointed forward (Col. 2:17) to Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was now a thing of the past. Because the real sacrifice has taken place in which the Lamb of God had died for the sins of the world (John 1:29), the ceremonial system has served its purpose. The ripping of the curtain signifies that even the Most Holy Place of the earthly Temple is no longer sacred. The scene of action will now shift to heaven, where Jesus will minister in the "true" Temple (Heb. 8:1, 2) as High Priest for those who believe in Him.

    A second major significance of the tearing of the curtain is that believers now have direct access to the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus and through His post-resurrection ministry in heaven. As Scripture puts it, we now "have confidence to enter the sanctuary ["holies" in Greek] by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain." Because of that access we can "draw near" to God "with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10:19-22, RSV).

    The destruction of the curtain further symbolized the fulfillment of Jesus' saying that the Jerusalem Temple would be "forsaken" by God and left "desolate" (Matt. 23:38, RSV). The beginning of the desecration of the Temple took place with the tearing of the curtain. That event foreshadowed its complete destruction in A.D. 70.

    Thank You, Lord, for not only providing Jesus as our Savior but for also opening up fuller access to Yourself through that event.

October 17, 2021

10/17/2021

Salvation Accomplished!

        He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:30, NKJV.

    In that verse we have the most important word in all the Bible. The words rendered in English as "It is finished!" are a single word in Greek--tetelestai.

    The other three Gospels tell us that Jesus ended His earthly life with a "loud cry" or "loud voice," but do not indicate what Jesus said. Only John provides us with the words themselves. According to the fourth Gospel, Jesus' last words before His death were "It is finished!" "It's all done!" "It's complete!" (John 19:30).

    All was finished, and Jesus knew it. But what was it that He had finished? His mission to earth. He had come to earth as God incarnate to demonstrate the love of God, live a perfect life, die for all who would believe in Him, and in the process defeat the devil and seal his doom. In short, through His death Jesus had accomplished salvation. Jesus had completed the work He came to do. Now He could go home to the Father.

    As a result, "It is finished!" was not a moan or a sigh of one who had barely made it to the finish line. To the contrary, it was a shout of victory. "It is the cry," William Barclay writes, "of the man who has completed his task; it is the cry of the man who has won through the struggle; it is the cry of the man who has come out of the dark into the glory of the light, and who has grasped the crown....Jesus died a victor and a conqueror with a shout of triumph on His lips."

    And that victory contains the meaning of the cross. Jesus, who had lived a sinless life, had now become the spotless sacrificial Lamb of God who in dying took away the world's sins (John 1:29).

    Christ has died. But the victory has been won. He has defeated Satan and set the course of history until at the end of time when the saved will again hear the words "It is done" (Rev. 21:6) at the setting up of a new heaven and a new earth as the new Jerusalem descends from heaven to earth. (Rev. 21:1, 2).

    Christ had completed His atoning work, but the reward of His followers will not be given in its fullness until He returns from heaven after preparing a place for them (John 14:1-3).

    Meanwhile, as we wait we can rejoice in Jesus' accomplishments on the cross.

October 16, 2021

10/16/2021

Peaceful Victory

        And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." Having said this, He breathed His last. Luke 23:46, NASB.

    The dark night of His soul has ended. Jesus has passed through the crisis of His life and knows that His father has not forsaken Him.

    The anguish is over. Trust and peace are in Christ's tone as He cries out with a "loud voice," "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."

    Remarkable words for a Man who a few minutes before had felt utterly forsaken. They are words of faith. Jesus knew who His Father was. And He knew where He was going.

    Jesus did not die as other humans. We die because we have no choice. Disease or injury takes us whether we like it or not. But even in death Jesus was different. He died as a volunteer. Of Himself He said, "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17, 18). Jesus knew who He was. He realized the identity of His Father. And He recognized where He was going as He made His final commitment to God and breathed His last.

    His experience has something to teach each of His followers. His death may have been unique in that it was voluntary, but every one of His followers has the privilege of meeting death with the calmness and sense of victory that He exhibited.

    As with Him, I need have no fear of what some have called "the king of terrors." The work of Jesus has vanquished Satan. The devil can trouble our body for a season, but he cannot separate us from the love of God and the victory of Jesus.

    The dying Stephen knew that as he cried out "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). The same great truth was in the mind of Paul when the time of his death was at hand: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).

    Happy and blessed are those who stand with Jesus in life. The same shall eventually stand with Him again in the world to come.

    We also can trust. Like Jesus, we know in whom we have believed. And we also can commit our spirit to Him as we face the end of our earthly journey.

October 15, 2021

10/15/2021

My Dark Night of the Soul

        My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Psalm 22:1, 2, ESV.

    In Psalm 22 we find David's cry of anguish in the midst of his suffering. Where is his God when he needs Him? Why is there no answer to his prayer? Has God truly forsaken him?

    A study of the psalm itself points beyond David to the experience of Christ. And Jesus, aware of the depths of meaning in the psalm, may have memorized the words.

    Feeling forsaken by God at times of stress is an experience all of us have from time to time. While as Christians we have our bright and sunny days, we also have periods of darkness when everything seems to go wrong and everyone is against us. "Where is your God now?" our mind screams out.

    Just as Jesus had His own dark night of the soul, so did David, and so do I. At such times my prayers seem to go nowhere. Answers to them appear to be nonexistent.

    At such times we need to take comfort from Jesus' dark night. The fact of the case is that God may be near to us even when we have lost sight of Him. Jesus on the cross may have felt forsaken, but, apart from His feelings, He was only "apparently forsaken of God" (The Desire of Ages, p. 756). God hadn't departed from Him. And the same Father stands by us in our hour of crisis--in spite of our feelings.

    Even in the depth of darkness, apparently forsaken, Jesus could address the Father as "My God," His personal Father. Even when Jesus could not see or feel the presence of God, He still clung to Him. Here is faith and trust in the midst of what seemed overwhelming gloom. To Jesus He was "my God" in spite of His feelings and of outward appearances. Here was the climax of Jesus' faith that "my God" would not let Him down.

    In the end that faith in the unseen presence of the Father would allow Him to exit the cross with words of triumph as He shouted "It is finished" and committed His spirit to His Father. "My God" had been there all along even though Jesus did not feel His presence.

    His experience has something important for me. Just as I have my midnights of the soul during which I feel abandoned by God, so I can keep the eyes of faith focused on "my God." Despite appearances and feelings, God has not forsaken us in times of trouble.

October 14, 2021

10/14/2021

Jesus' Dark Night of the Soul

        At three o'clock Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Mark 15:34, Message.

    As we noted yesterday, throughout His life Jesus had always felt the presence of His Father, no matter how difficult things got. But now, on the cross, it changed. Internal darkness reflected the external. Overwhelmed with it, He felt Himself to be separated from the Father.

    Without a word He had borne the pain of the nails, the mocking of the people, and the jeers of the priests. But when He loses sight of God's approving smile He breaks out into a heartbroken cry, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Jesus had reached the midnight hour of His soul.

    We will never fully understand what he was going through. But the fact that that heartbroken cry of desolation came from a Jesus who had always felt His Father's presence makes it utterly significant. The cry itself is a part of the mystery of the cross.

    The words themselves quote the first verse of Psalm 22, a psalm that parallels the events of the last ordeal of Jesus in many particulars. From the lips of the psalmist the words form little more than a complaint of a lonely and deserted man. But from the lips of Jesus the same utterance demonstrates a depth of meaning that the psalmist knew nothing about.

    Why the cry from the cross? Certainly not from the fear of death. Once you are on a cross, death is a friend.

    There is something deeper here. And it is related to Christ's mission to earth. On the cross, Jesus, the pure and upright God incarnate, was bearing the sins of the world. As Isaiah 53 puts it, "he bore the sin of many," "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (verses 12, 6, RSV).

    One of the bitter effects of sin is that it separates sinners from God. Adam and Eve felt that separation. And so did Jesus, who became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

    But we need to be careful here. J. D. Jones points out that "it was not that God had withdrawn His face or was angry with the Son Who was doing His will. It was that these crowding sins of ours hid the vision of God's face." He had lost the sense of the Father's presence. Although God had not deserted Him, from the perspective of bearing sin on the cross He felt forsaken.

    The good news is that, as in so many cases, feelings are not reality.

October 13, 2021

10/13/2021

Darkness in Two Flavors

        Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27:45, 46, RSV.

    Time passes slowly on the cross. Mark tells us that the Romans nailed Jesus to it at the third hour of the day or about 9:00 in the morning. He died at the ninth hour or about 3:00 in the afternoon. Six short hours to those enjoying life, but six hours that seemed like eternity to one hanging on a cross. If you have difficulty imagining what it was like, try picturing simultaneous surgery for six hours on several parts of your body without pain killer. But even then, you could never capture the pain of crucifixion. It made even strong men cry for death. Anything to get rid of the ceaseless pain.

    For Jesus death came swiftly. Only six hours. Many hung on their crosses for days before entering the mercy of death. Halfway through those six hours, the Bible tells us, "there was darkness over the land until the ninth hour."

    It was not an eclipse. The Gospel writers make no suggestion as to what caused the darkness. They simply record the fact that for three long hours it enveloped Jerusalem.

    That three Gospels record the darkness indicates that it made a deep impression upon those who experienced it. One can only imagine the silence that must have fallen over the jeering crowd. Darkness at the height of day was enough to fill those experiencing it with a nameless terror. Something was happening as Jesus hung upon the cross, but they didn't know what.

    But the darkness was not only in nature. It filled the soul of Christ. For at the ninth hour He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34, RSV).

    The darkness overwhelming Jesus is even more amazing than that covering the land. His life had not been easy. In fact, He had had to face hatred and rejection on every side throughout His ministry. Yet He was a man of joy and positive expression.

    The source of that joy was the deep conviction that He was never alone. "I and My Father are one." "I am in the Father and the Father in Me." "I am not alone, the Father is with Me." No matter what His outward circumstances, Jesus knew that the Father's smile rested on Him.

    But now? Darkness!

October 12, 2021

10/12/2021

Caring Until His End

        Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19:25-27, RSV.

    Jesus was not alone as He moved toward death. John mentions four women and himself, the only disciple specifically mentioned by the Gospels as a witness to the death of Jesus. Some of Jesus' followers may have opted to avoid the scene because it was always dangerous to be too closely identified with a condemned criminal.

    But at least the four women had the courage to be with Him until the end. They were an interesting group. We know nothing of Mary the wife of Clopas, but the other three all feature in the gospel story.

    The central woman, of course, was Jesus' mother. She had greeted His birth with such joy and promise to come. But early on the prophecy of Simeon in the Temple that His life would be a sword to pierce her own soul had disturbed her (Luke 2:35). And if she had been troubled at times during His ministry, what must her feelings and heart be like now. Still not understanding the nature of his mission, she suffered at the foot of the cross in silent agony. But her mother's love would not allow her even to think of staying away. This was her son.

    Then there was Jesus' mother's sister. While John's Gospel does not identify her, a comparison of the parallel passages in Mark 15:40 and Matthew 27:56 makes it evident that she is Salome, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee. She had earlier received a firm rebuke for trying to get her sons the top spots in Jesus' kingdom, but she had accepted it with a positive attitude. Now she is here at the crucifixion of her nephew.

    Last, there is Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast out seven devils (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). She was eternally grateful for what He had done in her life.

    But Jesus isn't quite finished with these women. Even on the cross in His own agony He could not forget His mother. With Joseph in his grave and His brothers not yet Christian, as the oldest son born to Mary, Jesus commits her to the care of His cousin John.

    That action speaks volumes to those of us who still have parents. Our care for them must be central in our list of priorities.