Resurrection After the Crucifixion!

Click here to listen to blog

One of the council members was Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year. He spoke up and said, "You people don't have any sense at all!  Don't you know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?"  Caiaphas did not say this on his own. As high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation.  Yet Jesus would not die just for the Jewish nation. He would die to bring together all of God's scattered people.  From that day on, the council started making plans to put Jesus to death.  Because of this plot against him, Jesus stopped going around in public. He went to the town of Ephraim, which was near the desert, and he stayed there with his disciples.  It was almost time for Passover. Many of the Jewish people who lived out in the country had come to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the festival.  They looked around for Jesus. Then when they were in the temple, they asked each other, "You don't think he will come here for Passover, do you?"  The chief priests and the Pharisees told the people to let them know if any of them saw Jesus. That is how they hoped to arrest him.

John 11: 49 - 58

Jesus did not incorrectly believe that people in the world wanted to put Him to death.  That is what they wanted to do, and that is what they did when they nailed the Lord to the Cross!  What the World did not know is that it was God's plan for Jesus to die on the Cross in order to pay the price for the sins of the World! 

I believe that even today, all the evil in the world is ultimately used by God to accomplish His Will on the earth!  Satan's secret plans today are all known by the Holy Spirit and He is able to work them together for good.  

When Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow Him, He meant that we would certainly suffer as His followers.  But the cross we carry will not defeat us, even as His Cross did not defeat Him.  In fact, the cross that we bear is an important way that we walk in His steps.

So when you look around and see great evil in the world today, remember that God is still in the business of overcoming evil with good!  Unrighteousness will be swallowed up by the righteousness of Jesus which is still working in the lives of those who follow Him.  Don't fear those who want to do you harm!  Fear God and watch for the Resurrection after the Crucifixion!  

"Lord Jesus, give me peace in the storms of this life, as I know for certain that You have already won the victory over every evil!  May Your Name Jesus be praised now and forever.  Amen."