Day 4: The Cross of Christ

Matthew 27:32-66, Mark 15:21-47, Luke 23:26-56, John 19:17-42

I cannot imagine being one of the disciples, watching as my hope hung up on a cross, using His last breath to forgive the very ones who nailed Him there. Jesus came, declaring that God’s Kingdom had finally come. Yet, the promise of a new kingdom faded away with each dying breath of the King they had longed to come. 

God’s plan was unknown and misunderstood by Jesus’ followers. As present-day followers, we know the joy of the resurrection to come three days later.

However, in our personal walks, how quickly are we to give into the same despair, disappointment, and doubt when we do not fully understand God’s sovereign plan over our lives?

Before Jesus came to the earth, there were hundreds of years of silence. A nation waiting for the return of a king wrapped in glory to deliver them. When would the prophesied king come? He comes quietly into the world as a lowly Nazarene, born in a manger, living in perfect obedience to the Father. When He did not meet the expectations of what the Jews pictured their coming Savior King to look like, they quickly condemned Jesus to the cross. “Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). Their misplaced trust in their own understanding led them to miss the biggest moment in history and led them away from the eternal kingdom that God was inviting them into. Let us not be people who let doubting of God’s sovereignty in our lives lead us to miss the glory we could witness. 

Where are you doubting God’s character, promises, and power in your life?