March 24, 2013

• Palm Sunday ~ To Jerusalem ... For All Nations

  Matthew 16:21
  From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem
  and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes,
  and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

  Luke 13:33
  I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following,
  for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.

  Zechariah 9
  9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
  behold, your king is coming to you;
  righteous and having salvation is he,
  humble and mounted on a donkey,
  on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  10  I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
  and the war horse from Jerusalem;
  and the battle bow shall be cut off,
  and he shall speak peace to the nations;
  his rule shall be from sea to sea,
  and from the River to the ends of the earth.
  11  As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
  I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
  12  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
  today I declare that I will restore to you double.

  Isaiah 49
  3  And he said to me, “You are my servant,
  Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
  4  But I said, “I have labored in vain;
  I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
  yet surely my right is with the LORD,
  and my recompense with my God.”
  5  And now the LORD says,
  he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
  to bring Jacob back to him;
  and that Israel might be gathered to him—
  for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,
  and my God has become my strength—
  6  he says:
  “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
  to raise up the tribes of Jacob
  and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
  I will make you as a light for the nations,
  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

  Matthew 28:20
  ... the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

  Romans 3
  21  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

  27  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30  since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith AND the uncircumcised through faith.

  Palm Sunday
  (To Jerusalem ... For All Nations)

  To Jerusalem, Lion of Judah must go
  To acquit His flock, render them white as snow

  Last Adam lifted up on Calvary's tree
  In our place, to suffer, die, and bleed

  To become a curse, burnt offering for sin,
  Spotless Lamb, all our iniquities laid on Him

  Set His face like a flint, endured the cross,
  Not one the Father gave Him will be lost

  Zealously labored to bring His Father fame,
  Endured the cross, despising the shame

  The gladness of His seed He kept in full sight,
  His Father's will was His desire and delight

  To bruise Him was the Father's pleasure
  To redeem His elect, His peculiar treasure

  Covenant mercies flowed through His precious blood
  O! Just and Justifier! How great a salvation!

  Rejoice greatly, O! daughter, shout aloud!
  Salvation revealed, make a joyful sound!

  Fear not, hear Him, God's only begotten Son,
  Christ, our Passover: "It is finished! It is done!"

  Behold! Your King has come, lowly and meek,
  To ransom His bride, set His prisoners free

  Jesus Christ, a servant of the circumcision,
  Yea, from the Jews, redemption sprung

  Hidden mystery for ages, since before creation,
  Yet now to all nations, glad tidings are sung

  The evangel to be published by beautiful feet,
  God's dominion and glory advancing from sea to sea

  Grace given to preach to ev'ry tribe and tongue,
  Peace through His cross –– O! reconciling blood!

  This morning, as you raised your voice and palm in exaltation,
  Did you recall God's plan to gather a people from all nations?

  In Sunday worship, with your uplifted hands,
  Did you plead for the unreached in many lands?

  

  Today, according to the Joshua Project (http://www.joshuaproject.net/):

  Total People Groups: 16,594
  Unreached People Groups: 7,162
  % People Groups Unreached: 43.2 %

  World Population: 7.03 Billion
  Population in Unreached Groups: 2.87 Billion
  % Population in Unreached: 40.9 %

  John 10:7  So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17  For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

  John 11:45  Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46  but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47  So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49  But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50  Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52  and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53  So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

  * * *

  The Way is open, prisoners far and prisoners near!
  Humble yourselves, through Jesus Christ, to God draw near!

  Put no confidence in your failing, mortal flesh,
  Receive by faith Christ's perfect righteousness

  Trust no longer in your works, but to the stronghold flee
  Justified by faith in Christ alone, be grafted to the olive tree

  Cry, "Hosanna! Save now!" and He will appear,
  The prayer of the destitute He always hears!

  John 6:37  All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38  For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40  For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
  

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  Related:
  

  • the infinite significance of the eternal Kingdom
  • adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)
  • Are you robbing God? Where is God telling you to "Rise and go!" for the joy of others?
  • Silent Night - Not! ~ "Prayer also will be made for Him continually" ... day and night
  • every brand snatched is a brand dispatched ~ Reflections on 9/11, Redemption & God's Mission
  • our yearnings & desires & God's Mission (Isaiah 26:9)
  • So shall He sprinkle MANY nations (Isaiah 52:13)

  • the only true way of peace (Postcards from God in England)
  • A little child shall lead us: Christ died for our sins (precious penal substitution)
  • The Gospel: Penal substitution? Really? Yes, really!
  • Bible Reading: Lamentations 1:12-Is His Sacrifice nothing to you?
  • First Week of Advent: The Most Scandalous Bailout Ever
  • Advent #2 WHY HAS JESUS COME? to give his life as a ransom for many
  • Advent #3 WHY HAS JESUS COME? not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance
  • Labor Day: Do you know the blessedness of not working? (Romans 4:1-8)
  • Lenten Reflections: what we did, what He did ~ Isaiah 50:5-6
  • Resurrection Sunday: Two Responses to the Son (Psalm 2)
  • a single crumb, a drop of wine ~ do not despise the Savior's sacrifice

  Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Emphasis mine.
  
  Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesus_entering_jerusalem_on_a_donkey.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Public Domain

  • 11:13 PM
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