God's Plan!

For Wednesday, May 17, 2023:

Matthew 17:22-23 NLT: “After the disciples gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.’ And the disciples were filled with grief.”

Here the Son of God is speaking prophetically, telling about the future, and the disciples don’t like what they’re being told. As with any new movement of which you are a part, the hope was that it would grow by leaps and bounds, and that all of Israel would acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah. Perhaps he could be king! Perhaps he could end Roman occupation. Jesus was their hope, and no one wanted anything to happen to him.

No one, that is, except the Temple leaders who regarded him as a threat to their power, and the Roman government who took any start-up group to be potentially disruptive.

But Jesus was predicting God’s plan for rescuing mankind. Jesus was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and once forgiven, it becomes possible for all who believe to spend eternity in God’s presence. This includes all of us who believe!

We look forward to heaven! Jesus called it paradise!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship