Surrender
Jesus fully knew what He would have to suffer. Do you
wonder if He ever lay awake at night, tossing and turning
as He realized that each day only brought Him closer to
His execution? In His final hours, Christ pleaded with
God to work out another plan, but there was no other way.
Jesus wanted someone to be there with Him; but everyone
was too tired, too scared, or too ashamed. “…Then all the
disciples forsook Him, and fled” (Math. 26:56b KJV).
The Lord was arrested like a criminal and faced trial. He
was scourged and marred beyond recognition. He had
only done good and helped people, yet a murderer was
chosen for release over Him. The very people He was dying
for screamed, “Crucify him!” The soldiers drove spikes
through His wrists and feet. He was mocked and spit upon,
and the weight of the world’s sin came down upon Him.
The Lamb, a perfect sacrifice, had taken on humanity’s
soiled garments and was dying alone.
We think Jesus was a superhero whose powers kept Him
aloof from the full pain of betrayal, mockery, torture, and
loneliness; but although divine, He was also human. He
felt every curse, every hammer’s blow, and every whip’s
lash.
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Then Jesus died, but it was not over. He had entered death
for our sakes. The world had given up on Him because they
thought He was merely a man. They forgot that Jesus was
the Son of God. But three days later, Jesus proved that the
power of His Deity and Humanity had conquered death and
saved the world. Before returning to His Father’s side, He
left His followers with the promise to return and show all
mankind His true Deity. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the
Son to have life in Himself; And hath given Him authority
to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear His voice, And shall come
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation” (John 5:25-29 KJV).
Knowing Who Jesus Is takes more than facts and
knowledge, it takes a relationship. Most religious founders
tried to turn themselves into gods so they would be not be
a man and relate to us on our level; the Son of God became
a man so that He could enter into a relationship with us.
There is something beautiful about Jesus on this level.
What does He mean to us personally as women? Watch
as He takes the children into His arms (Mark 10:16), see
as He saves the adulterous woman about to be stoned
(John 8:7), look at His love for Mary as she anoints His
feet (Luke 7:44), listen as He takes time to speak with an
outcast woman at the well (John 4), and glance at the scene
of Him healing the woman who had suffered for so many
years (Luke 13:11-13). Jesus does not view us as inferior
or unworthy because we are women. “There is neither Jew
nor Greek…bond nor free…male nor female: for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28 KJV). Jesus’ first recorded
miracle was done for His mother’s sake, He chose women
to be the announcers of the empty tomb, and it was a
woman who first saw Him after the resurrection.
Pay attention to His love. Read through the Gospels and
notice how many times it says that Jesus was “moved with
compassion”. One of the most powerful prayers recorded
is the one Jesus prayed for us in His final hours. “I pray for
them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou
hast given Me; for they are Thine. And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee.
Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom
Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as We are. I pray
not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Neither pray
I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
Me through their word; Father, I will that they also, whom
Thou hast given me, be with Me where I am…” (John 17: 9,
11, 15, 20, 24a KJV).
Jesus is our Bridegroom because we long to be chosen,
our Hope because we face doubt and depression, our Light
because we stumble in the dark, our Father because we
long for our hand to be held by a Protector, our Ransom
because we were a slave in Satan’s district, and our High
Priest because our sin needed forgiven.
Right now, Satan is hurling accusations against us as he
tries to drag us back into his realm. But Jesus looks at us
and says, “She is Mine. She is My Bride, My Daughter, My
Beloved. I purchased her with My blood. She was ugly and
unlovely, but I chose her anyways. See her now; she shines
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