For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil - this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
1. God Is In Control Of (Sovereign Over) All Time And All Events
In verses 2-8, we see truth taught about time through merisms. "A merism is a rhetorical device (figure of speech) in which a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer to the whole." (Philip Ryken)
None of these times are random events that happen without cause, meaning, or purpose. There is a God in heaven Who knows all, sees all, has all power & authority, and Who has ordained all times & seasons for His good purposes. He’s the God of time & God over all events. He’s God over our birth & our death & everything in between!
- Ecclesiastes 3:14: I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it . . . .
- Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.
- Ephesians 1:11: [God] works all things according to the counsel of His will.
- Psalm 31:14-15: But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in Your hand.
God is the King of time! King Jesus is the King of time! He is the King of every detail of your life!
2. God Makes Everything Beautiful In Its Time
Verse 11: He has made everything beautiful [appropriate, right, good] in its time.
- Life of Job: Lost all of his wealth; lost all of his children; lost his health; he kept trusting God! God restored him!
- Life of Joseph: Hated by his brothers; thrown into a pit; sold into slavery; falsely accused; put in prison; forgotten in prison; but he kept trusting God! God raised him up! [The life of Jesus!]
- Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
- Revelation 21:1-4: Then I saw a new heaven & a new earth, for the first heaven & the first earth had passed away, & the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, & they will be his people, & God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, & death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."
J. R. R. Tolkien: All things sad will become untrue.
Come LORD Jesus! Come quickly!
3. God Has Put Eternity Into Man’s Heart
Verse 11: Also, He has put eternity into man's heart . . . .
We were made for God, & we were made to live forever! Death is an enemy! Funerals are not normal! We need the GOSPEL! so that we may never die!
John 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection & the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 & everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
C. S. Lewis: Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.
4. God’s Ways And Purposes Are Sometimes Beyond Our Understanding
Verse 11: yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
We will not always know what God is doing or why God does what He does. Why did this happen? I don’t know?
Charles Spurgeon: God is too good to be unkind & He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.
Author: Difficult things can cause us to ask, “Why did this happen?” God may never reveal His reasons, but He has revealed His character to us. He assures us that He is ever-faithful, always caring, & will never leave us in our time of need.
Psalm 23:4: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5. God’s Will For Us Is Joy, Obedience, And Fearing Him
Verses 12-13, 14: I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful & to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat & drink & take pleasure in all his toil – this is God's gift to man . . . so that people fear before Him.
a. God calls us to have joy in Him & in all the good gifts He has given us: V 12: to be joyful
1) Joy in God: Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
2) Joy in God’s gifts: 1 Timothy 6:17: [God] richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
b. God calls us to obey Him: V 12: to do good as long as they live [Jesus’ great commission in Matthew 28]
c. God calls us to fear Him: V 14: so that people fear before Him. [Fear His wrath; fear turning away from Him]
Ecclesiastes 12:13: The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
6. Jesus Christ: The Merism Of All Merisms
Remember what a merism is: “A merism is a figure of speech in which a combination of two contrasting parts of the whole refer to the whole.”
Jesus Christ is the Merism of all merisms!
- Revelation 1:17-18: Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
- Revelation 22:13: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
Jesus came into the world at just the right time to save us from our sins:
Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Jesus is the God-Man Who holds all time & events sovereignly in His hands. He lived all these times out perfectly (He was born, & He died; He wept, & He rejoiced; He was silent, & He spoke; He’ll make war, & He came in peace). In the fullness of time, He came & died on that cross & rose from the dead so that we might know God & trust that He is working all of our times out for our good & for His glory. Through His death & resurrection, He has made a way for us to fear & obey God by the power of His Spirit. And because of Jesus we can enjoy the earthly gifts God has given us without fear because Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus is the Merism of all merisms Who created time, upholds time, & keeps all our times in His hands! He is the whole of the whole! He is everything of everything! He is our all in all! He is the ultimate merism: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Revelation 22:13
Let’s think about Jesus more: A time to be born, & a time to die: Jesus is the God-Man Who is God the Son come in flesh, born of the virgin Mary, & He died on that cross where He suffered the wrath & curse of God to save sinners
A time to plant, & a time to pluck up what is planted: He is the Sower, Seed, & Soil simultaneously: He came planting the Word of God like no one ever has, & He cursed the fig tree, pointing to judgment on all who reject Him!
A time to kill, & a time to heal: The world tried to kill Him as soon as He came into this world, but He would go on to heal from all manner of sickness & diseases – healing lepers, casting out demons, causing the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, & the dead to rise! The religious leaders tried to kill Him, but He always escaped until the time was right for Him to die, but then He rose up from the dead to bring healing to all the nations!
- Psalm 34:18: The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
- Psalm 147:3: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
A time to break down, & a time to build up: Jesus told of how the Jewish temple would be totally destroyed, but He came to build up a new temple of saved sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation!
A time to keep silence, & a time to speak: Jesus was falsely accused & went to that cross as a sheep before its shearers is silent, He opened not His mouth, but He is risen, so we open our mouths & speak the truth in love, just as He did!
A time to love: No man ever loved like Jesus Christ loved!
A time to weep & mourn, & a time to laugh & dance: Jesus & His disciples wept & mourned at His death, but He rose up from the dead so that we all would laugh & dance for joy throughout all eternity!
A time to hate & a time for war: Jesus is coming back to judge the world, & He will only have hatred & war for those who do not trust in Him as their LORD & Savior! Are you ready?! Repent & believe the Gospel!
God is at work in this fallen world, establishing his own order and justice, a work that must necessarily have a successful outcome. God will have profit from his toil.How can that be? How can God curse sinful mankind and still redeem him? How can the conflict between eternity and time be resolved? Here we must go beyond Ecclesiastes. The preacher poses the question with great power, but the answer is not yet fully revealed in the Old Testament. The answer, when it comes, takes your breath away. In the fullness of time, the Eternal One took upon himself time‑bound flesh and entered our world. He experienced for himself the frustration of life in a fallen and cursed world. The one through whom the entire universe was created was conceived in Mary’s womb and experienced a time to be born. He came to earth both to plant and to uproot. He came to gather to himself the lost sheep of the house of Israel and the gentiles, but also to scatter the self‑righteous Pharisees, telling them “Get lost! I never knew you!” There was a time when Jesus healed the multitudes and a time when he stayed where he was rather than going to heal Lazarus. Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus and he laughed and danced at the wedding at Cana. As our great High Priest, Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions. The one who spoke the world into existence, and taught the multitudes with great power, became silent before his accusers, like a sheep before its slaughterers. The one who possessed light and life in himself from all eternity experienced his own “time to die” as he was driven into the deep darkness of death on the cross. In place of their eternal, unchanging relationship of peace, the Almighty declared a time to wage cosmic and brutal war against sin in the body of his own, precious son.Do you sense the profound contradictions that are caused by the Eternal One entering history, the Unfallen and Holy One coming into a fallen and sin-filled world? What more profound contradiction could there be than for the Eternal One to die on the cross? What could be more un-godlike? What is more astonishing than for the sinless one to be made sin on behalf of his Adam’s helpless race? What greater injustice has ever been perpetrated than hanging the only sinless person who ever lived on a criminal’s gallows, condemned by man and cursed by God? And for what? What profit was there in all of his toil? Jesus left behind eleven frightened disciples who had abandoned him and fled, while the twelfth was the one who betrayed him. His body was buried with respect, in a stone tomb, but he appeared to be just like every other human being after their final breath, dead and gone, all set to return to the dust from which it came. Is that all there is to the story? Is the cross the place where we see the final triumph of darkness, disorder and death over light, peace and life?By no means! Those who killed the ever‑living One were themselves doing precisely what God’s perfect plan and timing had decreed (Acts 2:23). This was the defining event that God in His astonishing wisdom made fitting in his time. The time they killed the Lord’s anointed was the time when God healed his people; the time to put on display their hate became God’s time to display his love; their declaration of total war was God’s means of establishing total peace. This is how God brings to perfect judgment the wickedness of men without utterly destroying you and me, who by nature are wicked. This is what takes the serpent’s lie that we shall be like God and astoundingly turns it into an incredible truth: we shall be like God – not through our attempts to steal that status but through Christ’s willingness to give up his glory and embrace our flesh! This is what ultimately determines the difference between men and animals: that Christ died for ungodly sinners in order to turn us into his chosen and beloved people, making children of Adam into the children of God.So what should we conclude as we stand at the outset of a new year? What difference should this text make to your life? You should expect many things will happen to you this year that will be mysterious, completely impervious to your gaze, and deeply frustrating. There will be good things and bad things in the year ahead, and you will not necessarily be able to see how the bad things are fitting. They won’t be fitting to your schedule, but God’s timing is nonetheless perfect. They are part of living in a fallen sin-cursed world.How will we respond to that reality? How we should respond is with trust in God and peace in the midst of life’s turmoil, confident that God always knows exactly what we need, even when we don’t. Since we are very weak and broken people, however, it is more likely that we will respond very badly. When we wake up tomorrow and discover that the car won’t start, we probably won’t say to ourselves, “Oh, this is God’s time for my car to break down.” Instead, we will probably plunge ourselves into a tailspin of anger and despair, convinced that this is yet more data that God doesn’t really love us and care about the details of our lives. In that moment, as you see yourself spiraling down, ask God to use this experience to increase your faith, hope and joy. Ask God to grant you the courage you need to keep on believing, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense.Christmas reminds you that God’s love for you doesn’t depend on how well you respond to the challenge of life in a fallen and confusing world. He loves you even when you don’t believe that he loves you, and having begun a good work in you, he will bring it to completion on the last day, even if you cannot see how that can possibly be. Entrust the painful and bitter aspects of your life into the hands of your loving heavenly Father, knowing that in Jesus you have an intercessor who understands your pain, and asking him to help you believe that this too is part of his perfect plan for you.But most of all, give thanks for the death and resurrection of Christ, which is the assurance of our hope of heaven. This event in the fullness of time is how God has achieved his eternal purposes in you and in this world, by defeating death and its stranglehold on humanity. This is how God redeems a people for himself, for all eternity in heaven, where this world’s light and momentary frustrations and sorrows will be set in the richer hue of God’s incomprehensible mercy and grace to us. This new year, look forward all the more intensely to the time that is yet to come, the time when time will be no more, when all of your frustration and sorrow and sin will be gone and God will be all in all to his people. Then there will be no more time for pain, or for tears, or for loss, or for mourning precious loved ones, or for brokenness, or for death, or for war, but instead there will simply be all eternity in which to glorify and enjoy the God who made us and redeemed us for himself. On that last day in heaven, God will satisfy the desire that he himself placed in our hearts for eternity, by giving us himself. On that day, we will doubt his love and care for us no more, but will know it in its full depths and richness, which will make every sorrow fade from our minds forever.
Amen! Hallelujah! What a Savior!
More Resources On Ecclesiastes 3
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Matthew 26:36-44
Jesus didn't pray this way because of any human weakness, after all, there have been many Christian martyrs in church history who died boldly without any wavering. Jesus is more bold, more courageous, and more manly than any martyr who has ever lived. No, Jesus didn't pray this way because of weakness. Jesus prayed this way because of absolute, human perfection. This is how the perfect, holy, sinless, righteous Son of God must pray. Jesus prayed this way for at least three reasons:
1. A righteous fear; 2. A righteous hatred; 3. A righteous delight
A Righteous Fear
Jesus asked His Father to take the cup away from Him. What was the cup? It was the curse, judgment, fury, and wrath of God that Jesus would drink on the cross. In both the Old and New Testaments, we see that the content of the cup is the wrath of God:
Isaiah 51:17: Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.Revelation 14:10: he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur
The content of the cup is described well in Isaiah:
Isaiah 53:4-5, 10: Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed . . . Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief . . . .
The Father was angry with the Son on that cross. The Father turned His face away from the Son on that cross. In light of the wrath of God Jesus knew He would face on the cross, it was most holy and righteous for Him, the holiest Man Who ever lived, to pray with fear and trembling for another way – to seek a way of escape from this most terrible, cursed, wrath-bearing judgment.
Jesus perfectly feared Him Who can cast both body and soul into hell: In Gethsemane, Jesus was obeying with utmost perfection this command which He had given to others:
Matthew 10:28: And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus, more than any other, knew the fullness of the terrors of the wrath of Almighty God. Jesus feared God with a perfect, righteous fear, and He knew the horrors of coming face to face with this unquenchable wrath. For this reason, He pled to be freed from this dreaded curse on the cross.
A Righteous Hatred
Jesus also asked His Father to spare Him from the cross because He had an intense, perfect, righteous hatred of sin. The Bible teaches that the righteous hate sin and evil:
Psalm 97:10: O you who love the LORD, hate evil!
Proverbs 8:13: The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Jesus, the most perfect and only sinless human being who ever lived, hated sin more than anyone else. And Jesus also knew that on the cross, He would be made what He so deeply hated - He would be made sin:
Isaiah 53:6, 12: the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors
2 Corinthians 5:21: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
In his book, The Shadow Of Calvary, Hugh Martin wrote of the horror of being made sin:
From this we may see that the cup which the Father gave Him consisted substantially in the imputation to Him of a criminal's guilt, and the assignment to Him of a criminal's position and destiny . . . He assumes, therefore, at His Father's will, the sins which He is to bear in His own body on the tree and . . . thus by imputation makes Him out to be the chiefest and the most heavy laden of transgressors! Can there be any difficulty now in understanding generally what the nature and emphasis of His sorrow must have been? Think of Jesus coming into this terrible position towards the Judge of all – towards His Father and His God – towards Him whose . . . pleasure in Him were the light and joy of His life unspeakable! Think of Him consenting to have all the sins of myriads imputed to Him by His Father: to underlie, that is, the imputation, in His Father's judgment, of every kind and degree and amount of moral evil – every species and circumstance and combination of vile iniquity! . . . God made Him to be sin. God imputed to Him – the Father whom He infinitely loved – the judge whom He infinitely revered as one Who could not do but what is right – reckoned Him among transgressors.
Think of it!: All the sins of all those who would ever repent and believe in Him were imputed to or counted as Jesus' sins! Murder, adultery, rape, lust, child molestation, genocide, child abuse, homosexual acts, pride, idolatry, lack of contentment, porn use, lying, stealing, cheating, unbelief, & all other sins imaginable that redeemed sinners have & will commit were credited to Jesus and punished in Him on the cross! Jesus was made murder; Jesus was made adultery; Jesus was made rape; Jesus was made all your & my vile sins so that we could be saved!
When the holiest Man Who ever lived has this prospect placed before Him of becoming the vilest sin by the act of God's imputation, He cannot help but ask that this cup be taken away from Him. It was the holy, just, perfect, and righteous thing to do as He looked forward to that dreaded cross!
Psalm 16:2: I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You."Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.Psalm 42:1-2: As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?Psalm 63:1-3: O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your mercy is better than life, my lips will praise You.Psalm 73:25-26: Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Philippians 3:8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ . . . .
Commenting on Psalm 40, Augustine wrote:
Let the Lord your God be your hope. Hope for nothing else from the Lord your God; but let the Lord your God Himself be your hope. For many persons hope to obtain from God's hands riches, and many perishable and temporary honors; and, in short, anything else they hope to obtain at God's hands, except only God Himself. But seek after your God Himself: no, indeed, despising all things else, make your way to Him! Forget other things, remember Him. Leave other things behind, and "press forward" to Him . . . Leave all your loves. He who made heaven and earth is more beautiful than all . . . Let our God be our hope. He who made all things, is better than all! He who made what is beautiful, is more beautiful than all that is [beautiful]. He who made whatever is mighty, is Himself mightier. He who made whatever is great, is Himself greater. He will be to you everything that you love.
More than the Psalmists, more than the Apostle Paul, more than Augustine, and more than anyone else who has ever lived, Jesus Christ delighted in God His Father above all! His Father was His chief joy and greatest delight from all eternity!
Yet Jesus knew that on that cross, He would be forsaken by His Father - Who is His greatest delight. As Jesus prepared to go to Golgotha to be crucified, He knew this most prized possession, His most blessed fellowship with His Heavenly Father, was going to be cut off, and He would cry out: "My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?!" (Matthew 27:46). Therefore, Jesus had to, by necessity, pray that God would spare Him from the cross for this very reason – because of His intense love for and delight in His Heavenly Father. His was a most righteous delight! So He prayed for His Father to spare Him from losing His greatest joy and take the cross away.
Our Only Hope
Praise God that Jesus always ended His prayers to His Father with these humble, loving, and submissive Words: "Not as I will, but as You will."
Jesus did drink the fearful cup on that cross, He did submit to being made the sin which He so deeply hated on that cross, and He did accept His Father's will that He be cast out of His Father's presence on that cross so that we might be saved! Oh to boast only in the cross!
Jesus endured all of this because we don't fear God the way we ought, we don't hate sin as we should, and we don't passionately delight in the Father as He deserves to be delighted in! But Jesus did it all!
And because of this, God the Father loves His Son, delights in His Son, and raised His Son from the dead! And our only hope is to repent of our sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that we might be saved! Would you please trust in Jesus Christ today?!
A Prayer: Love Lustres At Calvary
Our Father, Enlarge our hearts, warm our [desires], open our lips,
supply words that proclaim '[We love Your Son] at Calvary.'
There grace removes our burdens and heaps them on Your Son,
made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for us;
There the sword of Your justice struck the man, Your fellow;
There Your infinite attributes were magnified,
and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due,
and infinite punishment was endured.
Christ was all anguish that we might be all joy, cast off that we might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy
that we might be welcomed as friends,
surrendered to hell's worst
that we might attain heaven's best,
stripped that we might be clothed,
wounded that we might be healed,
athirst that we might drink,
tormented that we might be comforted,
made a shame that we might inherit glory.
entered darkness that we might have eternal light.
Our Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from our eyes,
groaned that we might have endless song,
endured all pain that we might have unfading health,
bore a thorny crown that we might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that we might uplift ours,
experienced reproach that we might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that we might gaze on unclouded brightness,
[died] that we might forever live.
O Father, who spared not Your only Son that You might spare us,
All this transfer Your love designed and accomplished;
Help us to adore You [with our] lips and life.
O that our every breath might be ecstatic praise,
our every step buoyant with delight, as we see our enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, and destroyed;
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell's gates closed and heaven's [doors] open.
Go forth, O conquering God, and show us
the cross, mighty to subdue, mighty to comfort, and mighty to save! For Jesus' sake. Amen!
1. "American Gospel" Gets It Right explores who killed Jesus Christ and whether or not it's accurate to say God damned Jesus on the cross.
2. Forsaken, Or Felt Forsaken explains the nature of Christ's forsakenness on the cross.
3. More Thoughts On Being God-Forsaken lists numerous faithful and trusted scholars, teachers, and preachers' teachings on the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross.
4. Thomas Goodwin On The Father's Love And Anger At The Cross shows one very prominent and faithful Puritan's thoughts on how God the Father's love and His anger intersect at the cross.
5. The Bible Says God Was Angry With Jesus On The Cross explores what Psalm 89 teaches us about what Jesus suffered on the cross.
6. The Bible Says The Father Turned His Face Away From Jesus On The Cross explores what Psalm 88 teaches us about what Jesus suffered on the cross.
7. Samuel Rutherford On The Father's Love And Anger At The Cross shows another prominent Puritan's teaching on how God the Father's love and anger converge at the cross.
8. Is It Biblical To Say Jesus Was Damned By God On The Cross? answers that question with numerous faithful voices from Church history.
9. The Sufferings Of The LORD Jesus Christ On The Cross seeks to explore the different ways God's Word describes Christ's sufferings on the cross and what they mean in their Old Testament context.
10. John Calvin: Jesus Both Became A Curse AND Was Cursed By God On The Cross describes Calvin's convictions on Jesus' cursed death on the cross.
11. Dr. Klaas Schilder On The Sufferings Of Christ highlights the Dutch theologians thoughts on the horrors of what Jesus endured on the cross for His people.
12. Opposing Calvin’s Inconsistency On The Cross, The Father’s Anger Toward The Son, And The Heart Of The Gospel explores John Calvin's thought on penal substitution.
13. A poem about the sufferings of Christ: The Day The Father Was Angry With His Son
14. A new hymn celebrating what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross: Christ Our Substitute
15. Derek Rishmawy has written a very helpful article affirming the classic doctrine of God and Biblical trinitarian theology as it relates to Christ's sufferings on the cross.
16. Dr. S. M. Lockridge wrote a wonderful poem about the cross that also looks forward to the resurrection called, "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming!"
Remember Jesus Christ!First, remember His glorious Person! Remember His glorious Person!That Jesus is the eternal Son of God! God over all blessed forever! Amen!Remember that He is the Word Who was in the beginning with God and Who was God!Remember that Jesus is equal in essence with the Father!Remember that all that can be said about the Father's divine nature can properly be said about the Son as well!As the old school catechism puts it: "God is infinite in being and perfection, unchangeable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory, most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth!"Yeah! Yeah!
These things are all true about God the Father and they're also true about God the Son!Remember His glorious Person!Remember His preexistence!That Jesus did not begin to exist in the virgin's womb, but that from everlasting to everlasting He is God!As Jesus prayed in John 17:5: "And now Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed!Remember His preexistence y'all!Remember His perfect life!That Jesus fulfilled God's law perfectly - internally and externally!Every thought that Jesus had was a sinless thought!Every word that He spoke was a sinless word!And every deed He performed was a sinless deed!He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth!Remember His perfect life!
Remember His sacrificial death!Remember that on the cross Jesus suffering the full weight of the fury and wrath of God against sin!Remember that He laid down His life as a substitute in the place of all who would trust in Him - including you if you trust in Him, even now!Remember that He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree!Remember that God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all!Remember that the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep!Remember His glorious resurrection!That Jesus did not stay in the tomb, but on the third day He rose from the grave!
Remember that Jesus conquered Satan and sin and death!Remember that not only was Jesus delivered up for our trespasses, but He was also raised for our justification!Remember that Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel!Remember His glorious resurrection!When you’re tempted to sin, remember Jesus Christ, that He Himself suffered when He was tempted, so He's able to help those who are being tempted!When you’ve fallen into sin, remember Jesus Christ, that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and that He is the propitiation for our sins!When you're discouraged, remember Jesus Christ, Who said: "In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart! I have overcome the world!"When you're sick, remember Jesus Christ, Who by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our lowly body so that they will be like His glorious body!
When you're healthy, remember Jesus Christ, and give Him thanks like the leper who was healed and returned to express his gratitude to Jesus!When you're anxious about finances, remember Jesus Christ, Who said: "Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God [feeds] them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!"You considering doing something difficult for the LORD? Or going out for the sake of His name? Remember Jesus Christ, Who said: "I am with you, even to the end of the age."Children, if there's any children in the building, remember Jesus Christ kids!God made you, and He made you for His glory - that you might live and honor Jesus Christ all your days!
If you're single, remember Jesus Christ - your Maker is your Husband! The LORD of hosts is His name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer!Fathers, remember Jesus Christ! In your homes as you lead your family pray that your home would be a sanctuary where God is acknowledged and worshiped!Mothers, moms, remember Jesus Christ! Both His power to save your children as well as His acceptance of you when you feel overwhelmed or when you feel like a failure!Older saints, remember Jesus Christ, Who says in Isaiah 46:4: "Even to your old age, I AM He, and to gray hairs, I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear! I will carry, and I will save!"Deacons, as you serve the LORD, remember Jesus Christ, the ultimate Deacon Who came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many!
Pastors, as you lead your congregations, remember Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd and Overseer of our souls! Remember that your righteousness is not found in your leadership, your sermons, or your counseling! Your righteousness is found in Jesus!That's what we talkin' about y'all!We talkin' about Jesus!
The God Glorifier!The universe Creator!The prophecy Fulfiller!The perfect law Obeyer!The Scripture Validator!The Father Honorer!The humility Modeler!The cross Carrier!The sin Bearer!The death Conqueror!The grave Defeater!The salvation Achiever!The prayer Answerer!The proud Humbler!The weak Strengthener!The elect Preserver!The triumphant Returner!The justice Executor!The Satan Destroyer!The eternal joy Giver!
That's Jesus y'all!Hallelujah! Hallelujah!Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my Gospel. Amen.
Amen! Hallelujah! What a Savior!
God And The Gospel
To learn more about the great and true Triune God, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, and His glorious Gospel message and everlasting Kingship, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 1 Timothy 2:1-2
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. Psalm 118:8-9
Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Psalm 146:3
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7
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