The Agony of Love

This is from Chuck Missler's learn the Bible in 24 hours, absolutely incredible if you get a chance to listen to it

There is so much that can be talked about in the Gospels, the miracles, the discourses, and of course the greatest achievement of all time, Christ's victory on the cross. This is what I want to focus on today. First let me ask. Does our interpretation and understanding of prophecy and the eschatology (study of the end times) matter? Let me ask you this. The Jews during Jesus time had two different beliefs, one that the Messiah would come on a donkey, one that He would come on a white horse; did their interpretation matter? We see Christ on a white horse at the second coming in Revelation 20, but it was prophesied he would first come on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he [is] just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."

 Now we can think how were they supposed to know that He was the Messiah?  The answer is found in Daniel 9. Key note: If you do not understand Daniel 9 you will have problems with the rest of the Bible prophecy. It is so key that even Christ refers to it in the Olivet discourse. Daniel 9:25, "Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." So we have the 69 weeks of the 70 weeks of Daniel here. From the command to restore Jerusalem which was given by Artixerxes Longimanus which was given March 14, 445 B.C. to the Messiah the King, when Christ presented himself on the donkey on April 6, 32 A.D. would be 69 weeks.

So if we have 69 weeks of 360 day years it give us 173,880 days, it takes us exactly from the decree to restore Jerusalem to the day Christ presented Himself, as the King. What we find most interesting is that he held them accountable to know that day. Luke 19:41-44, "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." This actually happened on in 70 A.D. when Titus Vespasian and the Roman Legions destroyed the city and the temple. He had wanted to take the temple, but he was unable because it had been set on fire, so they literally had to take it apart stone by stone to recover all the gold. As stated in a previous post, we know that the prediction in Daniel was written far before Christ because we have the Septuagint (LXX) the Greek Old Testament, which was written 300 years prior. 

What all happened in the days to come can be looked at as a tragedy, but it is quite the opposite, it was an achievement. He was railroaded through six trials, He was beaten, tortured, and crucified. The passion of the Christ does a very good job giving us a glimpse of how bad it was, but it honestly does not go far enough. We do not see this in the Gospels, but find it in Isaiah. Chapter 52:14 "As many as were astonied at thee; his visage/appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." Literally what this is saying, is that he was tortured and beaten so badly, he no longer appeared human. The word for astonied can mean stunned, or appalled. Yet there was far more going on than we can possibly imagine, that goes far beyond the physical suffering. Christ always refers to God in a Father sense, but here at the crucifixion Christ actually calls Him his God, crying "My God, My God, Why hast though forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46  There was a spiritual side to this beyond what we will ever comprehend. There was a separation that even someone that is not saved, will not understand until after death. He took our sins, upon Himself, took our punishment, and stood in our stead, so that we can have life eternal, and be with Him. 

A side note, after the resurrection there are 4 instances in which people did not recognize, or were afraid of Him. Why? All these people that had spent years with Him, how were they unable to recognize Him. Mary in the garden, thought He was the Gardener in John 20:11-16. The Emmaus road two disciples walked with Him for 7 miles, but did not recognize him until he broke the bread Luke 24:13-32. The upper room the people were frightened Luck 24:33-43. Finally, by the sea of Galilee John 21:3-12. This one is the most interesting John 21:12, "Jesus saith unto them, Come [and] dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord." We find he answer in two passages, Revelation 5:6,"And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." So he carries the scars of His death to this day." Isaiah 50:6, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting." We see that His beard had been ripped out, so where once they had seen a beard, they now saw scar tissue. 

How much did your salvation cost the God of the universe? His Son. Christ spared not His own life for every single one of us, should we not do the same? Should we hold back any part of our life from Him? Our commission is to spread the Gospel to the whole world, we are to pursue Him constantly. We without reserve should live Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Our life is so short, and we are all one heartbeat away from eternity, then it is over. No more chances or opportunities. I plead with you all, to live your lives for Christ, pursue the relationship with Him that he desires with each and every one of us. He is to be our first love.