Lent Day 25: That I might be set free
Apr 15 in Lent
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Two men encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus, their hearts burned within them as he spoke to them. Starting with Moses, He would have explained the first Passover and then carried on through the Old Testament books. As I have been studying this topic the scriptures are so numerous it proves hard to know where to begin as there are so many depictions of Christ in every book, yet have chosen to try and keep to the ones I consider to be most relevant to lent. I thought I would try to keep to a chronological order, as it happened.
The Messiah was to appear 483 years after the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. “Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the anointed one, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times.”Daniel 9:25
He would be predecessed by “…my messenger, who will prepare the way before me.” Malachi 3:1 “A voice is calling, Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”Isaiah 40:3-5 – John the Baptist.
Born in Bethlehem “But as for you, Bethlehem … From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” Micah 5:1
Of the tribe of Jesse (King David – the scarlet thread) “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him…” Isaiah 11:1-2
Born of a virgin “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel (God with us)” Isaiah 7:14 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given and His name will be called Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6
The Son of God “Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4
Meek and humble riding on a donkey “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, yet He is lowly and riding on a donkey” Zechariah 9:9
Sold for the price of a potter’s field “So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, ‘throw it to the potter’ that pricely price they set on me.” Zechariah 11:12-13
His death so detailed:
“So His appearance was marred more than any man” Isaiah 52:14
“My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?” “I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones.”Psalm 22:1, 14-18
“They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.”Psalm 22:1, 14-18
“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
“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”Psalm 16:10
“It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord GOD, That I will make the sun go down at noon (the third hour) And make the earth dark in broad daylight (the sixth hour)….I will make it like mourning for an only Son, and its end like a bitter day” Amos 8:9-10
“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced…” Zechariah 12:10
Jesus did not come to be a ‘religion’ He came to make a way back to the Father, He took our sin upon Himself, He bore our iniquities, He did not fight back, He did not vindicate Himself, He was obedient to death, for the joy that was set before Him of seeing us restored in our relationship to Him and co-heirs of a new Kingdom.
… a love so extraordinary that the giver spent himself in giving until He gave us everything, holding nothing back … that I may perfectly love Him!