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Topic: FINISHED (04/09/20)
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TITLE: His Cup Of Suffering. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gloria Pierre Dean
04/11/20 -
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It would take great faith, persistence, courage and single-mindedness.
The prayers of friends would have helped but no one knew or understood what this trial would entail. They did not have the endurance to stay awake and watch with Him. Frail humans surmounted by the sleeping urge. In fact, the whole world was asleep, but he was not. The day was coming soon.
Nothing would ever be the same again; not in their lives or in the world.
This was mountain moving and covenant shattering.
His enemy was prowling around seeking to devour him. He resisted him but He knew that he would be back. In fact, He would infiltrate his camp and work on the mind of one of the weakest, but this had to happen. It was a sacrifice that he would make because Father wished it so and because He loved the world.
The world needed a way out. He was the Way!
Travail of the soul was his cup of suffering. He knew that the next few days would be full of anguish. He was not completely alone, for the angels had ministered to Him. Soothing his soul and preparing Him for this journey ahead. He knew they were coming for Him. After all, he was still God but he had humbled himself and became obedient even unto this trail as a man. Only in flesh could He do this. By becoming lamblike, He was replacing all the sacrificial lambs of the Old Covenant to become The Lamb that was slain but with a difference.
The garden became the turning point of his freedom. His season of persecution, cruel beatings, scourging, mocking and piercing was here!
He was ready. All his thirty-three years as a man on earth was in preparation for this! It was a Godly decision. He was the only One who could set His people free. He was to be The Way and the way was through the Cross. A cruel inhuman, slow, painful, humiliating, and public death was to be His. It was prophesied decades ago. “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes, we are healed” {Isaiah 53:1-12 NIV}
“I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. “{Isaiah 50:6 ESV}
Sharp cruel nails in His arms and feet. Arms outstretched. A man who is God was stripped of dignity and placed on a cross for all to see. Some scoffed while his children openly grieved and mourned in despair. “Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all” {Isaiah 53:6 WEB}. He openly forgave His cruel persecutors. He had warned them, but the reality was hard for them to bear. Many went into hiding for a time, but not all. The brave women, Simon and Nikodemus courageously bathed him and anointed him.
So, He was crucified. His body was buried and sealed in a rocky tomb.
However, three days later, just as the Scripture said, “He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.” {1 Corinthians 15:4 NIV} Many saw him alive and even ate with him after he rose from the dead and walked out of the tomb and out of death. His death and resurrection changed everything.
It is finished!
“But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. {1 Corinthians 15:20-21 NIV} We are no longer slaves to sin! “And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” {Romans 6:18 ESV}. Christ’s crucifixion and suffering were finished. He accomplished His purpose and set His children free. Today we have a choice.
{704 words}
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