Luke records for us three responses to the crucifixion of Christ in three distinctly different groups of individuals - the soldiers, the sinners and the saints. And although each of their responses are different, they are all good and right reactions to the Cross of Christ. Now what we discover when these [...]
The moment Jesus cries “It is finished” and dismisses His Spirit, we’re told the veil in the Temple separating the glory of God from the ordinary man was torn from top to bottom. Not from bottom to top mind you, but from top to bottom, indicating that the way to God was [...]
In a striking example of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, Jesus promises the penitent thief hanging next Him - “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.” Now what a shocker! He hadn’t been baptized, he hadn’t prayed more than once for all we know, [...]
In a seemingly random event by human experience, Roman Soldiers unwittingly pull a guy out of the crowd to carry Jesus’ cross. But the Word of God gives him a name. Simon of Cyrene had traveled nearly a thousand miles to make it to the Passover, and suddenly found his plans interrupted [...]
In Pontius Pilate we have the ultimate object lesson in compromise. Now he was a bright and gifted and accomplished man who had reached the top of his profession in Rome, and yet because of compromise he would end up deposed and isolated and eventually take his own life. The tragedy here [...]
Sometimes a person may wonder why God created man the way He did, limited and suffering and subject to sorrow and death. Here’s something we’ll never have to wonder about. God did not exact from man anything He didn’t exact from Himself in the person of Jesus. From the trivial irritations of [...]
In a moment of ill preparation, Peter reacts and pulls out his sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant. Peter’s actions were produced by overconfidence, prayerlessness, and not listening to the Word of God incarnate. And yet Jesus reaches right out and heals and restores the wounded man’s [...]
Gethsemane means “the place of the press,” where olives would be crushed to produce oil. Oil of course is emblematic of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. In a striking picture, Jesus now arrives at this celebrated garden, where He will experience the greatest pressing of His life; the agony so intense [...]
Upon receiving the glorious news of the New Covenant, the disciple’s reaction is to argue about who among them will be the greatest. What’s remarkable here in the text, is that Christ is not upset one bit about their desire to be great in the Kingdom of God. God deeply desires that [...]
