We read Psalm 88 in our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan for today. Every time I read this Psalm I am reminded of our trip to Israel. One of the places that we visited was what is believed to be the ruins of the house of Caiaphas. We were shown the pit where Jesus was kept. He had to be lowered into this place from a hole in the floor, which was the roof of the pit. We went down into this area and my Pastor, Bill Novak, read this Psalm. When he finished, the lights were extinguished so that we could experience the darkness in which Jesus was kept until He was made to face His accusers. It is a very somber Psalm and our meditation of it reminds us of the very great price that our God paid to ransom us back from the control and dominion of darkness. It is always good to think on these things, BUT, we MUST move from this somber reflection to the overwhelming VICTORY that JESUS obtained through everything that He did! If all that we ever do is feel sad for the price that He had to pay, and never gain a full understanding of just what He WON, then we are cheating HIM of the rewards of His VICTORY! Yes, He paid a very dear price, but He did it for the JOY that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2)! What was that joy? It was US! Now WE belong to HIM! We are HIS heirs, because He died! We are also joint heirs WITH Him because HE LIVES (Romans 8:17)! HALLELUJAH! Let's look at Matthew 28:18 and Philippians 2:9-11:
Matthew 28:18 Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Philippians 2:9 Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus continued in Matthew to say "Go ye therefore.." and to tell us in John 14:13 and in John 16:23 to "... ask in My Name ...". We MUST find out what belongs to us as heirs, and joint heirs, and live our lives demonstrating these things! THIS brings glory to His Name and declares His VICTORY! We must also continue to boldly and actively preach this Gospel so that the lost can hear and believe, because HE desires that NONE should perish and be lost for eternity (2 Peter 3:9). He wants NONE to be left in the hands of the enemy that He bought and paid for! Yes, SOME may choose to reject Him, but that will be their choice and HE wants them to have it! AMEN! So let's boldly go where WE have never gone before (either physically going , by sending others to go, or by using new methods of reaching them) and reach those we have never reached! THIS is the very least that we can do for HIM! AMEN! Here is Hillsong United with "Go":
Shalom in Him!
