Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Sunday, July 14, 2013

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 21-22a, The Passion Prediction: The death of Christ.

Our paragraph topic is: (The second prediction of the passion) Part 1. 


And it came to pass, as they moved on, from the villages and towns around the mountain where the transfiguration took place they arrived in Galilee.  They were happy with Christ.  They were at peace with him.  They had no worries, no cares, no fears.  For he provided all.  He gave all.  He was all to his disciples and to the people that followed him.  The word spread of his miracles.  The word spread of his teachings.  The word spread of his presences.  And many came that they may witness the truth for themselves in those times of the good news.

But there was evil afoot.  There was evil brewing in the heartland.  The leaders were threatened.  The rulers were worried.  The powers that be were being influenced by evil that they may commit to do evil.  For the slaughter was being conceived.  The sacrifice was being planned and the preparations were being made to silence the word.  For the word must not 
spread.  The people must be controlled.  The people must be ruled.  And the people must be contained by the rules of the law less those in power would loose their place to rule.

So as they made their way to Jerusalem, Christ knew what was taking place.  He knew that he had a mission.  Christ accepted his part in the final ruling that was taking place in heaven and on earth.  Justice must be served if there is a God, a supreme ruler.  For in truth one does not give justice and then change it.  So to satisfy the transgression a sacrifice had to be made.  A willing sacrifice, a proper sacrifice, a pure sacrifice, a lamb.  So Christ had to tell his disciples of the outcome of their journey.  He had to make them aware of what would happen in Jerusalem.  Now while they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to them: "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of men,
and they will kill him."

Christ knew his fate.  He know that he was born into this realm to be a sacrifice.  He came to give mankind life.  He came to be with us.  He came that we would know.  He came to give us the truth of who we are.  And he came to face death and to conquer it.  Why are we here?  Why are we born into this world to suffer and die?  Why do we toil and face the trials and tribulations of life, if not to have what life has to offer?  Why do we have to die?  What is the meaning of this life cycle that we go through if there is no goal, no purpose, no reason to living?

Death and taxes are the constants in our lives.  We live.  We work.  We are happy.  We are sad.  We love.  We hate.  We cry.  We pain.  Our hearts desire without true satisfaction.  We struggle to make sense of ourselves only to find ourselves with temporary solutions without some permanency.  Christ came.  He lived with us.  He walked the same earth.  He breathe the same air.  He drank the same water, eat the same food, slept under the same sky that we have, and then he died.  On the third day, the Bible tells us, he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of his father.  These are the written words of those who were there as witnesses.

What do we have to look forward to?  What do we have to rely upon as truth?  We have our science.  We have our technology.  We have our knowledge.  Is this enough to give us the strength to live our lives from day to day?  What will give us meaning?  We have the truth.  We have the living word.  We have Christ who lived among us, to teach us, to be an example to us, to provide for us, to love us, and to protect us.  Evil would have us believe that we are alone. Evil would have us believe that we must live by the laws and precepts of the world.   Evil would have us think that there is nothing else except what we have here, so we must live without any concerns of what comes after we die.  Yet God our Father gave us simple rules to keep evil from us.  Christ came to demonstrate to us the love that the Father has for us, if we only believe and trust in him.

I have walked the way of the world.  I have lived by the way of the world and I know now that Christ loves me, that the Father loves me, and that the Holy Spirit lives with me.  Come!  Walk the path before you.  See the truth of who you are in Christ.  Know the light that is within you and you too will see yourself as others will see you in heaven.  Christ loves you and so do I. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.