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The Gift of Foreknowledge
by Greg Robbins Matthew 20:18-19 "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again." Could you image being Jesus and knowing ahead of time the horrendous things that would happen? It would seem to me to be better not to know. Yet God in his wisdom showed to Jesus ahead of time all that would transpire to him. Many people picture Jesus as being joyful, carefree, and happy all of the time. That isn't what the Bible portrays. Jesus was much of the time melancholy and sad. Among other things, he was constantly aware of what would befall him. Isaiah 53:3 "He is despised and rejected with men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Instead of laughing, being joyful, and completely happy; Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His was a life of persecution and rejection. Yes, he was popular at times, but most of those same people later rejected him. John 21:18-19 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked where you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he said unto him, follow me." 2 Peter 1:14 "Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me." Jesus gave this same gift to Peter. From the time that Jesus told him what would happen to him, until the end of his life, Peter bore this heavy burden. Every single day, and probably all during the day, Peter knew the type of death that was coming to him. Peter was able to partake of the sufferings of Christ. Modern Christians have lost sight of the fact that suffering for Jesus is a blessing. It is a gift to be coveted. It is something to cherish as being holy. You see, to someone who loves Jesus very deeply, they desire to experience what Jesus experienced. They desire to be AS their Lord. John 16:13 "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." Jesus has promised the gift of being shown things to come, to his disciples. If you and I live as Jesus' disciples, then we too shall see the future. Many of God's gifts are not perceived as blessings until the understanding comes of what they truly are. I myself want all that God has for me. This gift requires repentance, holiness, obedience, and a deep faith in God. It will start little and then grow into something big, just like the grain of mustard grows into a great tree. http://jesuswordsonly.org My books on Amazon/Kindle https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Gregory+Robbins Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |