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Glory Seed Devotionals, 2016: Year of the Blessing
Station 10 – Jesus is stripped…
“And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.” (Matthew 27:31, ESV)
Perhaps the main theme of Jesus’ last week on earth as a human is spelled out in these verses. “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:53-54, ESV) Jesus was, is, and will always be the ultimate volunteer.
I don’t know why the Roman soldiers wanted to humiliate Jesus by stripping him and really the reason isn’t that important but what is important is Jesus nor God did anything to stop it. Jesus had a choice. Had he called upon God to send him legions of angels to save him he would have lost. However, he chose to go with God’s winning plan and honoring Jesus’ choice God’s plan saw to it that Jesus sacrifice “spilled” over into our lives.
There are times when we pick out certain incidents in Jesus life to address specific times in our lives but there are also times when we need to address Jesus’ life from before birth to after his return to heaven. There are also times when we need to address distinctive times in his life Holy Week is one of those distinctive times. If someone were to ask me condense the last week of Jesus’ life into one word that word would be—SURRENDER. On the surface it may seem as if he surrendered to the Jewish and Roman authorities but his surrender was to God and His plan not only for Jesus but for us as well. However, by surrendering to God and His plan Jesus sat the “bench mark” for us.
Frank Viola in his book “God’s Favorite Place” writes about the benefit of surrendering to God and His plan for our lives. “On the contrary, people who have been broken by the hand of God know how to turn the other cheek. They know how to go the second mile. They know how to give their coats when asked for their shirts. They know how to speak well of those who misrepresent them. They know how to return good for evil. They know how to lose. And in so doing, they exhibit the Spirit of the Lamb and allow God to win.” (God's Favorite Place on Earth, Kindle Locations 228-230. David C. Cook. Kindle Edition)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might!
Grace and PEACE, Amen!
Gary
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Scripture quotations marked ESV "Are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
**http://onlineministries.creighton.ed.../stations.html. Used with permission.
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