Happy Resurrection Weekend to my delightful friends and family!
I thought I'd share an excerpt from a Bible study I wrote last year from the Gospel of John.
John 10:17-19
"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take
it again. "No one takes 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. This command I have
received from My Father."
No one takes it from Me but I lay it down of Myself
Jesus being "God with us" had a wonderful plan and it included His
life in exchange for ours.
John 15:13 " Greater love has no one than
this than to lay down one's life for his friends."
Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
John 5:26 "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the
Son to have life in Himself,"
There is perfect harmony between the Father and the Son and the plan from the
foundation of the world will be executed perfectly according the Scriptures.
There is no way that the creation/mere man can change or manipulated the
pre-ordained plans of our Creator. Some things are just set or written in
Stone, the Living Stone!
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through
Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
1 Peter 1:20-21 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believe in God,
who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope
are in God.
I want to share a few verses that show that Jesus and the disciples wrote
concerning how that Scriptures (Law, Prophets and Psalms) must be fulfilled. It
was God’s plan, hidden in a sense until the appointed time. (Read Galatians
4:2-4) We do not have to worry about Him being a helpless pawn, it was His
plan to go to the cross all along for our good to bridge that gap between God and man.
Matthew 26: 53-56 "Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father,
and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? "How then
could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" In
that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out, as against a
robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the
temple, and you did not seize Me. "But all this was done that the
Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples
forsook Him and fled.
Mark: 14-49 "I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not
seize Me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled."
Romans 1:1-4 PAUL, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His
prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be
the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead.
Acts 3:18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His
prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Acts 10:43 "To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name,
whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."
Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us
while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to
us?"
Luke 24:44-48 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke
to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."
And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for
the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.
Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names
have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
In laying down His life for us, Jesus became that Door through which we enter
into His fold and because He rose again (in fulfillment of the Scriptures!) He
remains our Faithful, Loving, Good Shepherd watching over His flock! Does that
make you just want to sing His praises. Well, go ahead I certainly will not
object to that!! To tell you the truth I’m right there with you! “Worthy is
the - Lamb who was slain, Holy, Holy is He!” (I love that song: Revelation Song written by
Jennie Lee Riddle)
I pray that this will be a time of reflection and rejoicing in the Risen Lord, what a joy it is to serve Him. We can be confident in putting our hope and faith in Jesus. He is always there, Jesus promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us!
With affection,
Natalie
