Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 70

March 11, 2018;      Matthew 20:18;       20/260(IV);        ‘Committed to Us’

Matthew 20:18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,

With His earthly ministry almost complete, the Lord Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jerusalem.  Jesus takes them aside and tells them that soon He will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes, who wanted to kill Him and they will condemn Him to death.  Ultimately, this is why He came.  Can we learn from His ministry and use His Example to live by?  Absolutely and we should.  Can we learn from all of the incredible truths that Jesus taught while He ministered on the earth?  Absolutely and we should.  The bottom line, main reason for the Lord Jesus to come to earth as a Man, was to die for our sins and sicknesses, taking our punishment upon Himself so that we would not have to be punished.  The Old Testament prophets saw His sacrifice on our behalf.  The sacrifices on animals in the Old Testament was a type of the sacrifice of Jesus.  The innocent blood of the animal was shed for the guilt of the person the animal died for.  One day our Lord’s innocent blood would be shed for our sins.  In Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus, not fearing death, but never having been separated from His Father or ever knowing the pain of sin, asked if there could be another way humanity could be saved.  Jesus then told His Father that never the less if there was no other way, He would die for us.  Every day, as Jesus ministered, looming in His future was the cross and His spirit going to the recesses of hell to be punished in our place.  The love and commitment of the Lord Jesus toward us is staggering. His mind accepted in Gethsemane His destiny and then Jesus went to die for us.