November 27, 2019: SOAP #3646:  Psalm 125; Matthew 26-27

Scripture:  Matthew (NIV) 26:1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.

Observation:  Just two days away from the darkest day on earth.  Man would kill his Creator!  Satan would incite men to kill the only One who had never sinned!  Religious leaders would break religious laws to bring about the death of the only One who had ever kept all the laws!  The hope of sick people who had only heard about the Healer would be dashed to pieces!  What a dark day! …and in only two days!

But those of us who know the rest of the story know that it was just five days away from the greatest day on earth!!!  In five days, the grave would be empty; death would be defeated!  In five days, sin would be atoned!  In five days, the Resurrected Jesus would appear with no indication that he had experienced the cruelty of a Roman crucifixion!  In five days, hope would overtake despair and joy would overtake sorrow!

Application:  There are times when great trouble is only two days away.  Sometimes God removes the trouble and give me victory; sometimes He leads me through the trouble to the victory just beyond!

Prayer:   Holy Spirit, help me to always see trouble in the light of victory. Victory preventing the crisis is great, but often the victory after the crisis is even greater.  However it comes, my eyes are on you!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!