“”But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.””
Luke 21:34-36 NKJV
Jesus was eating the Passover meal immediately preceding His betrayal and crucifixion. It was at this meal that Jesus instituted what we call the Lord’s Supper.
Indeed, it was also at this very meal, Jesus would reveal that He would be betrayed by one of them. That one would be Judas.
“Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?” He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it.””
Matthew 26:21-25 NKJV
Jesus not only indicated what Judas would do, but that ALL of them would forsake Him.
“Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.””
Matthew 26:31-32 NKJV
Now, Peter would have none of this, vehemently objecting to the thought of him ever denying the Lord.
“Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.“
Matthew 26:33-35 NKJV
Again, in the garden, as Jesus was praying before His betrayal, He repeatedly warned His disciples to be alert, to be on guard, even warning Peter by name.
“Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.“
Matthew 26:38, 40-41, 45 NKJV
But even with all the warnings, Peter did deny Jesus.
“Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!” And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.“
Matthew 26:69-75 NKJV
It would appear that because Peter did not take seriously the warnings, he walked right into the trap of the enemy.
In our opening scripture, we see another time Jesus had warned the disciples concerning their need to be paying attention lest they fall into a trap.
The context of the opening scripture is that it was part of Jesus’ answer to the disciples when they asked Him about the timing of the things He had predicted.
“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?””
Matthew 24:3 NKJV
Friend, we do well to heed this warning from Jesus in terms of staying on guard. We know that we are living in the Last Days before the return of Jesus Christ. As such, as discussed yesterday, we know that there will be a Great Apostasy. Tragically, many Christians will fall from faith and deny the Lord.
Now, our knee-jerk reaction may be that we would never do that. But, no one who has truly come to faith in Jesus would plan to deny Him. Peter didn’t “plan” to deny Him either. Something happened, causing Peter to be caught off guard.
We must not take our steadfastness for granted, assuming we would never fall into the category of those who fall away. Rather, we must heed the warnings provided in God’s word, so that we are not caught offguard.
We’ll talk more about this tomorrow
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
In preparation for our discussion over the next several days please read and meditate on the following scriptures:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.“
II Thessalonians 2:1-4 NKJV
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.””
Matthew 13:19-23 NKJV
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.“
Luke 9:23-26 NKJV
The word of God tells us that before the coming of our Lord, there will be a great falling away from the Church. I believe that we are already seeing the beginning of this Apostasy. Yes, for many Christians the Gospel has just become too “inconvenient.” In fact, whole denominations are slipping away from the Truth.
What’s going on? How can we avoid getting caught up in the flood of deception that will cause so many to turn from their steadfastness?
We’ll talk more about this in the coming days.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
“See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory].”
1 John 3:1-2 AMP
Over the last few days we have considered three lenses through which we must look at our Lord in order to truly see and know Him.
Let’s look at these again:
1 - See Him suffering in your place.
2 - See Him resurrected so that you can be raised to new life.
3 - See Him glorified and at the right hand of the Father as the One Who is calling you upward to share in His glory.
In terms of His suffering, the Lord does not need or want our sympathy. Rather, He wants us to see how much He loves us that He would suffer in our place to redeem us out of the clutches of sin and death. As well, we must recognize the depth of our depravity, that such a terrible penalty had to be paid to deliver us out.
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
“But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:22-23 NLT
In terms of His resurrection, He wants us to see that as He was raised by the Holy Spirit of God to newness of life, just so, we are raised by the Holy Spirit to become a new creation, created in His image, and prepared for good works.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:10 NLT
“And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Romans 8:10-11 NLT
In terms of His glorification, and being seated at the right hand of the Father, He wants us to see our future wherein we will rule and reign with Him forever.
“This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us.”
2 Timothy 2:11-12 NLT
“Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.”
Revelation 3:21 NLT
Now do you understand it? When we look at Christ’s suffering, His resurrection, and His glorification, we are seeing the process God has provided through which we can become sons of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ!
“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
Romans 8:16-17 NLT
Child of God, you should not be able to look at Jesus Christ without seeing what God has done for us, what God has made us to be, and what God has provided for us in terms of a glorious future in the ages to come.
Remember, if you look at Christ, all He has done, all that He is, without seeing what this means for you, then you have missed the point of His suffering on the cross, underestimated the power of His resurrection, and disregarded the glory of His exaltation. This was all done for us to be able to receive the upward call.
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.“
Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
The Lord didn’t need to do any of this to be Who He Is. He did it all so that we can be who He made us to be: His children!
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.“
Hebrews 3:1-2 NKJV
See Him now! Believe it now! Answer the upward call!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!