AN HIGH PRIEST

 

Jesus of Nazareth by Cynthia Pottorff

“No one’s eyes were more penetrating than His, and much of what He saw pierced His heart. Surely His ears heard every cry of distress, every sound of want amid despair. To a degree far more than we will ever understand, He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Indeed, to the layman in the streets of Judea, Christ’s career must have seemed a failure, a tragedy, a good man totally overwhelmed by the evils surrounding Him and the misdeeds of others.

“He was misunderstood or misrepresented, even hated from the beginning. No matter what He said or did, His statements were twisted, His actions suspected, His motives impugned. In the entire history of the world no one has ever loved so purely or served so selflessly – and been treated so diabolically for His effort. Yet nothing could break His faith in His Father’s plan or His Father’s promises. Even in those darkest hours at Gethsemane and Calvary, He pressed on, continuing to trust in the very God whom He momentarily feared had forsaken Him.

“Because Christ’s eyes were unfailingly fixed on the future, He could endure all that was required of Him, suffer as no man can suffer except it be “unto death”, as King Benjamin said, look upon the wreckage of individual lives and the promises of ancient Israel lying in ruins around Him, and still say then and now, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

“How could He do this? How could He believe it? Because He knows that for the faithful, things will be made right soon enough. He is a King; He speaks for the crown; He knows what can be promised. He knows that “the Lord….will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble….For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” He knows that “the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” He knows that “the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.”

-          Jeffrey R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come”, GC Oct 1999

 

As Golgotha raged and tore

Your flesh without mercy,

The Garden sprang anew

As from every drop of blood You spilt

New flowers came into bloom.

How pitiful the cross that claimed You

Not knowing it sent a God to a

Darkened tomb!

 

-      CATHRYNE ALLEN 

I WILL FOLLOW THEE

 

Jesus Walking on Water by Heartlands Prints

I will follow Thee my God and My All

When I can see no more;

I will trust in Thee

When all hope flees;

I will praise Thy name

When I am left without ease.

I will nurture the seeds of my faith

With tears of my affliction;

Yet will I look up to heaven

And believe in Thy throne;

I will trust in the strength of Thine arms

To lift me and carry me home.

 

-      CATHRYNE ALLEN 

THE MESSIANIC HOPE

 

Behold the Man by Simon Dewey 

The messianic hope is the expectation of an Anointed Deliverer that has its roots in pre-mortal life and that was prophesied about extensively in the scriptures (Abraham 3:27; Moses 4:1,2).

The English word Messiah comes from the Hebrew Meshiach, meaning ‘anointed’. The Greek equivalent is Christos. The Hebrew word Yeshua (Jesus in Greek) means ‘Saviour’ or ‘deliverer’. The two words combined denote one anointed of God to save or deliver His people.

The Old Testament prophets prophesied of the Messiah in incredible detail. The prophecies tell of him being born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); that He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); that He would be raised a  prophet like unto Moses (Deut 18:15); that  He would be of the lineage of David (Genesis 49:10; Jeremiah 23:5-6) and that He would have the government upon his shoulder (Isaiah 9:6,7).

The New Testament prophecies revealed the life and mission of the Messiah in detail. The writers of the four Gospels especially pointed out how Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that referred to the coming Messiah, the references of which are too extensive to record here.

The most well known messianic prophecy belongs to Isaiah who spoke of Him dualistically. Isaiah 53 describes the role of Christ as a ‘suffering servant’, ‘a man of sorrows’, one who stands ‘as a sheep before her shearers’, one who takes our transgressions upon Himself. The other picture of the Messiah is that of the “King of Glory” contained in Isaiah 9, which paints a picture of deliverance, political power, and the destruction of the enemies of Israel. They speak of two time periods which the Jewish population of Christ’s time either did not understand or they chose to ignore. The ‘suffering servant’ was a reference to Messiah’s first advent when  He would deliver His people spiritually and the King of Glory who would be sitting on the throne of David and have the government upon His shoulder refers to the Millenial reign.

The Jews of Christ’s first advent recognized that Jesus was from the lineage of David  but when He refused to take up the sword against Rome and take upon himself the government of their nation, His crucifixion was seen by the majority as a proof that He could not have been the promised deliverer. Remember the mocking: “He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.” ( Mark 15:31, 32).

This is where the Jewish nation went wrong in their expectation of the Messiah:

From the time of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. until the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70….the Palestinian remnant of Israel was subjected to the rule of many great powers: the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, and finally the Romans.

During this great period of bondage to different powers, the Jewish people came to see the Messiah not as one who would provide Atonement for their sins but one who would deliver them from their enemies by physical force. They wanted freedom from people who ruled them.

And so the Jews looked beyond the mark which was Christ (Jacob 4:14) and crucified their God. When He did not come in a manner that they anticipated, they looked beyond Him for another who should come…..and they wait still.

Oh that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart!!!! I would shout from the rooftops to unbelieving Israel: your King will come!!!!

“Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle….then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations….and his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives…and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (Zechariah 13:6; 14:1-4)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

PERFECT FAITH

 

For now I walk unsteady steps

On this earthly soil beneath my feet

But one day I will come to You

With perfect faith in waves of deep.

 

And when in distance Your glory beckons,

When You come to take me home,

I will run into Your arms

And forever be Your own.

 

-      Cathryne Allen

(Art: Serene Saviour by Ivan Guaderrama)