The Good News

Dedicated to the good news of Jesus Christ

Vol. 1 Issue 36

He Knew All Along

Jerusalem – We continue to follow the progress of this young religious movement here in Jerusalem. They don’t even have a name that they go by, other than to say that they are disciples of the Christ. Some have referred to them as The Way, though no one is quite certain about the origins of that term. John, one of the apostles, remembers a time when Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NIV) So, maybe that’s where the term originated.

All around Jerusalem the disciples are gathering in homes, sharing their meals. Those who have food and shelter are sharing with those who do not. And as they eat their meals together they share what they remember about Jesus. One disciple named Cleopas was among the first to see Jesus after his resurrection, and he has been telling others about his conversation with Jesus that day on the road to Emmaus. Cleopas and another disciple walked and talked with the risen Christ, but they did not recognize him. They thought he was a stranger and a visitor to Jerusalem. They told him of their sorrow over the death of their teacher, and that now the body of Jesus had disappeared. At this Jesus was amazed.

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)

One prophet who spoke of these things was Isaiah. He said, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth."

"Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isa 53:1-12 NIV)

All of the disciples were amazed. To think that not only did Jesus know he was going to the cross when he came to Jerusalem, but he came into this world knowing how he would leave it. He knew about the cross all along and yet he came anyway. Amazing!

Page Two

The Conscious Cross from Look at the Man by Tim Woodroof and Glen Gray

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