Each year on Easter weekend I read one chapter of the book “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel. This chapter is called “The Medical Evidence” and the purpose is to explain the medical reasons of how Jesus died on the cross. It’s a step by step medical explanation of what Jesus went through from the moment he went to pray all night and sweat blood to the moment he had his last breath and said, “It is finished.”
I read this chapter each year to remind myself the horrible death that Jesus went through—all because He loves ME—all because of LOVE! That was his only mission on earth, his purpose—to die on the cross for each one of us. Wow! And we get scared when we discover God’s purpose for our lives. We get sometimes overwhelmed by our calling as if it was anywhere close to the calling Jesus had.
I also attended the Good Friday service at my church last night. They shared the various statements that Jesus said right before and up to his death. The one that stuck with me was when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Matthew 27:46 NKJV). Imagine, even Jesus, the Son of God, thought and felt as if God had forsaken him. How can that be? Didn’t Jesus know that very soon He was going to be with the Father again? Didn’t He know that this was part of the plan from the beginning and that He had to go through this horrible pain in order to get the victory—a victory that would be eternal? But I think it was the human side of Jesus who spoke at that moment and asked God “why have you forsaken me”? Other versions say, “Why have you abandoned me?”
This brings me to address two points: First, even Jesus had to wait for God’s timing. He had to wait for God’s power to manifest in His life—for the promise. In this instance, Jesus had to wait for God to resurrect Him from the dead. He had to wait three days! Many times we feel forsaken and abandoned by God but the Bible also tells us that God “never leaves nor forsakes us” (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5 NKJV). We simply need to wait and not give up on our faith. Second, even Jesus, the Son of God, received silence from God. God cannot be in the presence of sin so He turned His back on Jesus. That was the only reason (and the only time) God was silent and turn away from Jesus for three days as Jesus visited hell on our behalf so we don’t have to spend eternity there separated from God. What a mission! What a promise!
Before Jesus came to earth, in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, 400 years passed where God was silent to the Israelites! 400 years! That’s so many generations that passed and they never heard a word from God. People were born and died and never heard from God. They never experienced the promise here on earth. They had to believe by faith and never saw the promise of the Messiah realized during their entire lives on earth.
I thank God daily that I was born in these times. Even though these times seem full of hatred and evil, Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit so we CAN communicate with God daily! We don’t have to wait years and our entire lives for the promise to come true. It already did! All we have to do is believe and accept the free gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He already paid the prize for our sins. He already came and fulfilled His mission—He died on the cross, went to hell for us, and resurrected from the dead. He’s already sitting at the right hand of the Father. All we have to do is say, “Yes, Lord. I accept your invitation. I believe in you. I repent of my sins. I want to go to heaven and be with you for eternity.”
I know we are all waiting on God for something. We continue to pray and wait (sometimes patiently and other times very impatiently) but we wait until God’s promises in our lives come true. Let’s just keep the eternal perspective knowing that the biggest promise that God gave His people (all of us) already came true. Now you have to appropriate that promise and make it a reality in your life. The worldly things we wait on are not important in the eternal perspective. Only the conversion of those we love is of that importance. So let’s not get weary in our prayers and believing for those who don’t yet know Christ. Let’s never quit praying for the lost souls who have not yet heard the promise and for our loved ones who have heard and are resisting to believe. Let’s pray they accept the free gift of salvation so we can all be together in eternity. Truly, the “happily ever after” idea can happen to all of us in heaven.
Give your life to Christ today. Don’t waste another day of your life without God in it.