Daily devotion – Saturday 10th July 2021

Pastor Keith   -  

If we were the Centurion overseeing the Crucifixion, most likely we would have placed the two thieves together and Jesus off to the side. I believe the Roman soldier that day had no idea just why he arranged the crosses as he did placing Jesus between these two criminals.

But God had a plan, and His prophet Isaiah wrote 700 years before the day….He was numbered with the transgressors – Isaiah 53:12.

God the Father decreed that His only begotten Son, Jesus, He who was most holy should die with those who were most UNHOLY!

Jesus not only died among criminals, but He was numbered as one of them.

In this passage of prophecy lies the heart of the Gospel.

Why was it decreed that Jesus should gracelessly hang between two criminals?

God wanted to demonstrate the depths of shame to which His Son was obediently willing to descend.

Phl 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

At Jesus birth in the stable in Bethlehem, He was surrounded by beasts, and, now, in His death, with criminals.

No one can say that Jesus was aloof or distant at any time during the 33 ½ years He walked this earth. He was immersed into our broken world, and He descended that we might ascend with Him to a new life!

Jeremiah 23: “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,
“And not a God afar off?
Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.

God desires to be part of your life – this is why He came to suffer and die for you.

But only you can let Him into your life – don’t shut the Lord out of any area of your life. Allow Him free access to every part of your being and enjoy His blessing each and every moment!

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.