Message from Scripture: 8/11/2020

Today, our message from Scripture comes from Luke 9:51: “When the days were approaching for His ascension, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem.”

Jesus spent most of His ministry in Galilee, but in the passage just read, we find what we might call the “watershed” of His ministry. In Luke 13:33 Jesus would say, “It is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.”  For Him to be determined to go to Jerusalem, it meant the time for His fulfillment of God’s will was quickly approaching. He must die for the sins of the world to be forgiven, and everything He had done previously was leading Him to this goal. He was a great teacher who revealed the will of God, and He performed miracles to verify He truly was the Son of God. But from the very beginning, Jesus knew He would have to die that horrible death on the cross. He was completely dedicated to fulfilling God’s will for the sake of humanity.

In a very real sense, Jesus surrendered His privileges as deity to become flesh and blood and offer His life for us. He wasn’t a helpless victim of circumstances, but He made this choice deliberately. Where would we be if He hadn’t determined to go to Jerusalem?

For us as Christians, we are thankful for Him submitting to the will of the Father, because without it, we would be forever lost. However, to receive the benefits of Christ’s death, we must determine to follow Christ fully and completely, as He did the Father. What would it be like if every Christian would surrender to God completely in the example of Christ? We are grateful for all Jesus has done for us, but we should ask ourselves are we following in His example, to set our faces toward living for Him? “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). What have you determined to do today? God bless.

Robert