Dear Brothers / Sisters,
The topic of our devotion today can be entitled as ‘A statement of faith’, which is all about the Faith of Jesus.
Luke 23:46 “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’”[n] Having said this, He breathed His last.”
In our earlier devotion, we looked at Matthew 27:46 where Jesus cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The eternal Son of God who has coexisted with His Father throughout eternity was now experiencing a separation from His Father and the separation was so real and painful that it caused the Son of God to cry out My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Remember that sin separates us from God [Isaiah 59:2]; and Christ coming as our sin bearer [Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24] was now being treated the way we deserve to be treated so that we might be treated the way He deserves to be treated [2 Corinthians 5:21].
In other words, the wrath of God, which Paul describes as God-abandonment in Romans 1:18, 24, 26 & 28, was now being experienced by Jesus Christ at the cross. Consequently, His feelings and His faith parted company. As far as His feeling was concerned, He felt forsaken / abandoned by God. But, as far as His faith is concerned, He said ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’
The lesson for us is that you and I should never be lead by our feelings. Our feelings can betray us at times, our feelings keep changing according to the circumstances we are in. But the bible teaches that we should walk by faith and not by sight [2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight”].
One of the identifying marks of the remnant people of God in the last days is that among other two qualities, they have the faith of Jesus Christ:
Revelation 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those[g] who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
We are told that God’s remnant people will finally manifest to the world the same kind of faith Jesus manifested at the cross in spite of His feelings. God’s people will have to go through the great tribulation which Jeremiah and Daniel describe as the worst kind of all tribulations ever experienced by God’s people.
Jeremiah 30:5-7 “For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? 7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.”
Daniel 12:1 “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book.”
Dear Brothers / Sisters, this prophecy is not a conditional prophecy, this is an apocalyptic prophecy and as Habakkuk confirmed the imminent destruction of literal Jerusalem of ancient literal Israel, so can you be assured that the prophecies of Jeremiah and Daniel concerning the great tribulation will come to pass:
Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time;But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.”
Do you have the faith of Jesus? Without the faith of Jesus, there is no way you and I can go through Jacob’s trouble and come out of it with flying colours. Jesus took God at His word. His intimate knowledge of God gave Him the assurance that His father would not leave Him in the grave to see corruption. Jesus took the promises of His Father at face value. Even though His feelings told Him that He was abandoned by God, even though the hope of resurrection was taken away from Him and even though He experienced the death of the wicked, yet His faith came out shinning like gold refined in fire [Revelation 3:18; 1 Peter 1:6-7] and enabled Him to make His statement of Faith “Father, into Your hands, I commit My spirit.”
Do you know God intimately enough to trust Him even if He slays you as Job said? Remember that Jesus said in the beginning of one of His recorded prayers which is unfortunately neglected by many of us that ‘knowing God and Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent is eternal life.’
John 17:3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Jesus knew His Father so intimately that even though He felt abandoned by God, yet, His faith on His Father never wavered even for a moment. If you don’t have the faith of Jesus right now, please do not despair as though all is lost. Jesus is still offering to give us His faith for the asking but we have to buy it from Him, a concept which has puzzled many. (I will probably reserve this concept of buying for some other time. If you wish, we can discuss it on another thread.)
Revelation 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.”
The gold refined in the fire is none other than His faith which saw Him through the trials of the cross.
1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen[a] you love.”
With this, our tour in the passion comes to an end and I hope that we have learned some valuable lessons out of these series of presentations.
May God give us Laodiceans the gift of repentance so that we may have the faith of Jesus Christ which we need very badly in these last days, this is my prayer in Jesus’ precious name, amen!
God bless,
Mathios Akalu