It is written:
“All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD’s, And He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth Shall eat and worship; All those who go down to the dust Shall bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep himself alive. 30 A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, 31 They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.” (Psalm 22:27-31)
The beautiful text of Psalm 22 is faith-building and edifying. The multiple examples of prophecy and fulfillment from the Scripture provide a solid and powerful foundation of evidence for the truthfulness of Christianity, while the horrifying vividness of the suffering of God’s Messiah shows us the depth of love that He has for us.
We see from this passage the hope and consolation that can be ours when we walk with the Lord and strive to go where He sends, even as we remember that the resurrection of the dead provides great consolation towards us.
While studying for this series of articles, I came across these words by Chuck Missler that touched me deeply. My hope and prayer is that they will touch your soul also. May you see the love of God in the death of Jesus, His burial, and resurrection on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-8), and may you submit to His plan of salvation (Romans 6:17-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
“We must not forget that this is the One who weighs the clouds and who fills the oceans. This is the One who guides every river down its course, who waters the fields. This is the One who caused the water to flow from the rock in the wilderness twice, who turned water into wine in Cana. This is the King of kings and Lord of lords, before whom hell trembles and the earth is filled with dismay. The King of Eternity humbled Himself to take on the weakness of a parched, dying man, and He did this all for you and me. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. John 19: 30 Tetelestai Jesus maintains the initiative all the way through here. He gave up the ghost. His life was not taken from Him; He gave it up willingly. Τετέλεσται. Tetelestai. “It is finished.” When Jesus says this, we feel the completion of His monumental task. He did it. It’s over. This phrase has an additional meaning we might not readily appreciate. When people were convicted of a crime in that day, a certificate of debt was posted outside their cell. As their sentence was served, it was marked off until the day they had finished paying their debt to society. At that point, the word “tετέλεσται” was written across the document by the jailer. When the prisoner was released, he was given that document as evidence that the crime had been paid for and never had to be paid for again. That was the system in those days. Paul makes reference to this in Colossians 2: 14, saying: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Paid in full. It’s already done. The work has been completed, and there’s nothing left for us to do to earn our salvation. Jesus has done it, and to pretend we can add to it is blasphemy. It’s empowering to know that the Holy Spirit did not delay because of our unworthiness, and we don’t have to delay because of our helplessness. We can stand before the Lord confident that He sees us as clean and pure and righteous, because Jesus is our righteousness. He has done it.” (Chuck Missler & Dr. Mark Eastman, The Agony of Love: Six Hours in Eternity, 910-930 (Kindle Edition); Coeur d’Alene, ID; Koinonia House).
Why not as a believer in Jesus Christ the Son of God repent of your sins, confess Him as the Messiah, and be baptized to have your sins washed away (Acts 2:37-47; 8:35-38)?
Why not as a baptized child of God return to the Lord through repentance and prayer if you have wandered away (Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:7-2:2)?
We stand ready to assist you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
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