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We're all abundantly aware that God's son, Jesus, out of obedience to His father and a shared love of us, willingly or reluctantly we do not know, but He did not shrink from obeying His father's will, bravely, humbly and fully aware of the horrors awaiting Him. Quiet and compliant our Lord submitted to the lynch mob braying for His death; no cause or wrongdoing, for them a mere detail.
Sometimes we out of familiarity, skimp over the gory detail of Jesus's death. The excruciating physical pain, a sense of helplessness as the blood drains from His body, the humility of the smug celebrations of His bloodthirsty protractors. This He suffered out of duty to God and love for each of us.
But maybe this was just the beginning and there was worse to come. Jesus's precious father shook His head and said a loud no to Him, prompting our Lord to scream out that blood curdling final cry: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'. At that point according to Matthew and Mark, Jesus surrendered His Spirit. But what happened to His Spirit at that moment and where did it go?
We know that Jesus's body was taken down from the cross and was laid in a tomb sealed with a huge boulder but did Jesus's Spirit follow His body? It didn’t go to Heaven; He told Mary - Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” John 20:17 NKJV
The Apostle Peter gives us a clue and if what Peter writes is true, worse was to come, Jesus's Spirit was transported to Hedes, what the Bible describes as a waiting room for Hell but bad enough -
For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; in which He also went and preached to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water. 1 Peter 3:18-20 AMP
What Jesus preached to the disobedient spirits we're not told. But this was all part of the prophesy / prediction of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote 600 years earlier -
He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53:8-9 NKJV
This was was not the sad end of the life of Jesus, just the end of a chapter. In the next chapter Jesus after 3 days had had enough and bursts out of the grave, body and Spirit intact, though scarred. And when I say bursts out I mean 'bursts out', not escapes or sneaks out but bursts out.
After a few days seeing His many friends He goes back up into Heaven from where He came to take His place at the right hand of God.
I give you that last paragraph as reassurance; rather on this Maundy Thursday we should focus upon the huge cost to God and to Jesus of the repair to the damage we did to our relationship with God when we rejected Him, choosing sin over perfection and a rich relationship with Him. Although the cost of the ransom was huge, God thinks He got a bargain. That's how much He values and adores us.
Thank you dear God for that limitless love that sent your only son Jesus to die on the cross and then you reached out to call us into a relationship as sons and daughters, joint heirs with Jesus. A relationship that will last literally for an eternity. Lord God, I love you.
Sometimes we out of familiarity, skimp over the gory detail of Jesus's death. The excruciating physical pain, a sense of helplessness as the blood drains from His body, the humility of the smug celebrations of His bloodthirsty protractors. This He suffered out of duty to God and love for each of us.
But maybe this was just the beginning and there was worse to come. Jesus's precious father shook His head and said a loud no to Him, prompting our Lord to scream out that blood curdling final cry: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'. At that point according to Matthew and Mark, Jesus surrendered His Spirit. But what happened to His Spirit at that moment and where did it go?
We know that Jesus's body was taken down from the cross and was laid in a tomb sealed with a huge boulder but did Jesus's Spirit follow His body? It didn’t go to Heaven; He told Mary - Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” John 20:17 NKJV
The Apostle Peter gives us a clue and if what Peter writes is true, worse was to come, Jesus's Spirit was transported to Hedes, what the Bible describes as a waiting room for Hell but bad enough -
For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; in which He also went and preached to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water. 1 Peter 3:18-20 AMP
What Jesus preached to the disobedient spirits we're not told. But this was all part of the prophesy / prediction of the prophet Isaiah, who wrote 600 years earlier -
He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53:8-9 NKJV
This was was not the sad end of the life of Jesus, just the end of a chapter. In the next chapter Jesus after 3 days had had enough and bursts out of the grave, body and Spirit intact, though scarred. And when I say bursts out I mean 'bursts out', not escapes or sneaks out but bursts out.
After a few days seeing His many friends He goes back up into Heaven from where He came to take His place at the right hand of God.
I give you that last paragraph as reassurance; rather on this Maundy Thursday we should focus upon the huge cost to God and to Jesus of the repair to the damage we did to our relationship with God when we rejected Him, choosing sin over perfection and a rich relationship with Him. Although the cost of the ransom was huge, God thinks He got a bargain. That's how much He values and adores us.
Thank you dear God for that limitless love that sent your only son Jesus to die on the cross and then you reached out to call us into a relationship as sons and daughters, joint heirs with Jesus. A relationship that will last literally for an eternity. Lord God, I love you.