Good Friday

By Shirley Wiggins

 

“The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”  Luke 24:7

 

Jesus was crucified --- dead by afternoon.

 

Hope hung on His cross, dead.  No help here –  “They all walked away…nothing to say…

 

A day comes to one and all, in some shape, form or fashion like that day.  That day when the dream of what we thought would be ours dies:  all hope lost.

 

It won’t be the way we had hoped.  Hope died; help is gone.

 

“Then came the morning, night turned into day… hope rose with the dawn.”

 

The dawning of the Third Day.

 

But first, the sun had to set on “Good” Friday.  Saturday had to be endured.  The anguish of the end:  helpless, alone, afraid, hope-less.

 

Have you experienced it?  The dying of a dream, the desire that life would turn out like you had one day thought it would be --- but it didn’t?

 

Relationships end, even those that seem vital to your very being.  People die.  Love grows cold.  Life changes.  Details are different, but loss and loneliness are the same.

 

What seemed to be a “guarantee” in our personal life dissolved into a pile of ashes.  Life is definitely not going to turn out like we thought.  The entire script changed!

 

 I want my life to be normal, even boringly routine and predictable.  I do not want to experience this drama, this turmoil day in and day out!

 

Every day seems to come with another unexpected crisis!  Another disappointment!  Another discouragement!  Another painful conflict!

 

Where, oh where, is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness – and self-control?!  [Galatians 4:22-23.]

 

That is what I expected in my life, and for my life—NOT THIS…. How do I cope with this?  Yet again, Lord!

 

But…. “then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun, Death had lost and Life had won, for morning had come:  Morning had come.”

 

… “Hope rose with the dawn.”

 

But, not till the third day.  The Third Day:  Resurrection Day.

 

Some dreams must die.  Some disappointments must be encountered, and discouragements must be endured until they are defeated.

 

For life will win, and death itself will die.

 

New dreams will be birthed, and help is here, now.

 

Help never left;  He just became invisible to the physical eye;  Help is always here, even throughout the long, long nights.    Jesus:  “… but now I am going to Him Who sent Me.  None of you asks me, ‘Where are You going?’  Rather,  you are filled with grief because I have said these things.  But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go way, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”  See John 16:5-7.

 

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.  But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you also will live.  On that day, you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.  Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me.  The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love them and show Myself to them.”   John 14:16-201

 

And hope did not die:  “Hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what they already have?  But, if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  Romans 8:24-25.

 

Are you looking for Jesus?  Or, are you looking at your disappointments?  Is discouragement trying to settle over you, suffocating your hope and obscuring the Helper’s very real Presence?

 

Hope was born and the Helper came, just as God teaches in His Holy Scriptures.

 

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  They  found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He  is not here; He has risen!  Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee:  “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day raised again.”  Then they remembered His words.”  Luke 24:1-8.

 

“The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.  Come and see the place where He lay.  Then go quickly and tell His disciples:  ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see Him.’  Now I have told you.”  “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell His disciples.  Suddenly Jesus met them.  “Greetings,” He said.  They came to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him.  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.”  Matthew 28:5-10.

 

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After He said this, He showed them His hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!  As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.”  

And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  John 20:19-22

 

From Luke’s account:  “… I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen.  After His suffering, He presented Himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command:  “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”   

After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”  Acts 1:1-11.

 

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them….”  Acts 2:1-4.

 

 

And one day when we least expect Him, Jesus will return to gather His people who believe in Him and carry us into our eternal home with Him.  Let us be ready, abounding in hope and filled with His Holy Spirit, our Helper!

 

RED SEA EXPERIENCES

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  Isaiah 41:10 (NIV.)

By Shirley Wiggins   (Edited and re-posted from August 2017)

In Exodus 13:17 – 14:31, we read  an amazing account of how God  saved His people from an enemy in pursuit by means of a sea divided….

This enemy had held them as slaves for over 400 years.

“The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years.  In fact, it was on the last day of the 430^th year that all the LORD’s forces left the land.”  Exodus 12:40-41 (NLT).

At just the right time, God had sent Moses to secure their freedom according to His own plan.  Read the entire account at Exodus 1:1 through Exodus 12:41.

The LORD implemented this Red Sea experience for His people by giving Moses specific instructions for their camp location “between Migdol and the Sea.”  Exodus 14:1.

It was at this place that the people of Israel looked up and saw the Egyptians pursuing them with all the forces in Pharaoh’s army, intent upon recapturing them.  What a formidable sight!  They immediately panicked! 

With the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh’s army behind them, they reproached Moses, even as they cried out to the LORD.  See Exodus 14:2-12.

 Moses said to the people, … “Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.  The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” Exodus14:13-14.

The Lord gave all the directions needed:  He told Moses what to tell the Israelites to do, and what Moses was to do, and even what He Himself would do:

·     -  Tell the sons of Israel to go forward,

 ·     -  You lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and you will all go through the midst of the sea on dry land;

 -      “As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.  Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”  … “the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.   But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were  like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.  Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.  When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.”  Exodus 14:17-18,27-31.

What an amazing thing:   the greatness of God, the LORD!   The Scriptures allow us to discover more about God, and life, and people in general.  We may learn how God interacted with people in the Old Testament and with God through Jesus in the New Testament.   

 What an astounding thing that this great God invites people to know Him; in fact, we are all urged to know Him.  He does not hide His desire to be known by His people.

Example after example from OT through the NT, we see again and again the faithfulness of God to guide, instruct, protect and provide for His people.  He reveals Himself by His ways and His workings that people might know that He is the Lord.

He warns against falling into idolatry and becoming deceived by careless and callous untruths, while revealing truth in its depths through the pages of His carefully preserved Word, the Holy Scriptures.

Deuteronomy 29:29  records the  interesting fact that in all of God’s revealing and showing and telling, people will never be able to fully comprehend God Himself, and that there are yet things not revealed.  

 “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all of the words of this law.      (Ampified Bible.)

Our invitation  is to know Him in order to obey Him.  What remains secret belongs to God.  There is no God like Yahweh God.  He retains secrets, but we are an entirely open book to Him:

““Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him?” says the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:24 (Amp.)

His Word is filled with its revelations of God’s power;  His love and mercy and grace;  His promises that His Word is true and He is God; and that He can and will do all that He has said He will do – forever.  He is unchangeable and unexplainable and remains incomprehensively majestic and magnificent.

The question is, “Do we believe Him?”

At each and every “Red Sea” place in our lives, God is already there with the guidance we need and the strength and power to bring us safely through it, with abundant comfort and care and provision and protection.

Isaiah 41:9-10  (Amplified Bible): “ You whom I (the Lord) have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are my servant—I have chosen you and not cast you off …Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you;  yes,  I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.”

 As you and I stand today at this point in our lives and assess our own circumstances, are there difficulties facing us that frightens us?

Let us be encouraged to look beyond the river of fear and invite the Lord to make His presence known.   With eyes of faith, let us choose to believe what we cannot see by believing the words on the pages of God’s Word that we can see.  Invite His Holy Spirit to make His presence fully known to you, bringing to you the comfort and provision He has ready for you.

In a poem that I read  by Annie Johnson Flint (included below), she asked this question in the first line:  “Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life, where in spite of all you can do,”  that you know there is no way out or back, but the only way is ‘through’ this particular situation?

The death of a loved one is painful and difficult, and my dad’s death held its own unique heartbreak and grief because it appeared to have come by his own hand.  Accidental,  or intentional?   We never knew with certainty the answer to that question. 

My mother held us together with her faith in God which gave her strength even though her own way was a blurred path because of her tears of absolute anguish.  In addition to her grief  as a widow, she had to grapple with all the unanswered “why’s” that a questionable death leaves in its wake.

My mother’s own death occurred 13 years later, soon after the birth of my last child – just three years after the arrival of the long-awaited granddaughter into the circle of her three grandsons at that time.  (Since then, she has had three more grandsons added to her list of descendants.)

She was a loving mother and grandmother;  a woman who loved to laugh and looked for the enjoyment of life, even though she was already a grieving young widow by the time her first grandchild was born.

Her death was sudden and unexpected after a brief illness, hospitalization, and emergency surgery.

Word of her death seemed to knock the very breath from our bodies as my brothers and I fought to maintain balance in the suddenness of being left without a parent on earth. 

I could not then identify the overwhelming feelings of loss as feeling like an “orphan.”  However, much later, I would re-discover the verse recorded at John 14:18 and understand that painful emotion as the peculiar grief of an orphan. 

Jesus knew that after His death on the cross, His disciples would suffer that anguish of having the core of their faith removed from their visible sight, and so He gave this precious promise to them:    “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”     John 14:18 (NASB).

Because God’s Word will never lose its relevance and is still active and alive today,  the promised  Holy Spirit did come bringing comfort to me, too, in a way that I could never have imagined. 

At that time, I was an adult, happily married to a loving and supportive husband, and the mother of three young children, so I was not “alone.”  However, I felt, in some strange way abandoned and helpless.    I now equate that particular heavy emotional pain as being the grief of an orphan.

The devastating sense of aloneness a child without a mother must feel!

In the death of my mother, one of my Red Sea experiences, the Lord God was already there and would never leave me. 

He was constantly by my side, and though I was so aware of my grief and loss that I was seemingly unaware of Him, He was nevertheless with me, and brought beautiful comfort to me in such a way that now even after 40 years have passed, I remember vividly the experience.

On the way to my mother’s funeral, my husband and I were in the front seat of our car with my youngest brother and his wife in the back seat of the car.

 Suddenly, I ‘saw’ with my mind’s eye words as though written in front of me and I read them, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself;  that where I am, there you may be also.”

 Even though I was not familiar with those verses and had no idea where they might be found in the Bible, I did seem to know it was Jesus speaking and I found comfort in knowing she had been carried to be with Him.    I would later have reason to contact my mother’s pastor and ask him about these specific verses of Scripture.

I found particular comfort in knowing that she would be in a place prepared for her.  For at the time of her death, she did not have a home of her own.  After her release from the hospital, she planned to go home with me to my home in another state.

The plan that never came into being was that she would stay the summer with me while she recuperated from her illness and surgery.   Instead of leaving the hospital, she left the land of the living in the earth.

At that time, I was still a very immature Christian, and it amazes me even now how the Lord continually grows His people in their relationships with Him.  We never stop learning and growing in Him, discovering those timeless treasures in The Holy Bible, if we will take the time to read and study it.

As we arrived at the church of my childhood, we made our way to the pew at the front right side of the church.

Living out of state, I had never met my mother’s pastor.  As the service started with hymns, I was again overwhelmed by that crushing panic-stricken grief.

Then the pastor read his text:  “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

 All of a sudden, it was as if the roof had been pulled back and the brightest, warmest  ray of sunlight shone down from heaven on my head.  I felt as if I had been lifted from a cold drenching rain, a warm blanket wrapped around me and the very arms of God seemed to hug me close to Him. 

The most comforting sense of well-being came over me:  a joy and a peace that I cannot describe in words.  A smile spread over my face, and I felt the most amazing sense of happiness, like a little child being comforted in her parent’s secure embrace.

As the service concluded, the deep sorrow and loss descended on me, and I would continue to battle the stages of grief as humans do when we are parted from those we love and hold dear to our hearts.

The Lord has proven Himself real to me over the years and continues to show me the reality of the truth in and of His Words.

I never tire of the reading and studying of His Word.  And one day, I will be carried to my eternal home, into that very special place He has prepared for me, and not only for me but for all His people, because He has secured our salvation,  blood-bought by His Son, and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“…Surely I am coming quickly.”  “Amen.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!”  Revelation 22:20 (NKJV).

God’s presence in the life of His people is pure joy!  His blessings make all of life a purpose-filled journey into eternity.   Each day is a God-filled adventure with opportunities to have our faith in Him proven genuine, as our trust in Him removes all fear.

May we be encouraged to remember that God has no favorites and He is faithful to all people who will allow Him a place to work His miracles in their life, just as He did with the Patriarchs, and with Moses and the Israelites, and numerous others in the Old Testament. 

 And, just as He did with the multitudes of people in the New Testament, and as He still does today with all of the people in the world, who will accept His invitation to life in Him.

No matter the situations we may find ourselves in, He is the God of grace and glory.  His power and love, mercy and forgiveness remain boundless and borderless.  He works through every circumstance to give us a hope and a future.  (See Jeremiah 29:11.)

 May you be blessed with the presence of God in Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit as you read and study His Word, The Holy Bible.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”   2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV.)

 

 Exodus 13:17-14:31      God Leads the People New American Standard Bible

¹⁷ Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “ The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the ^[a]Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely ^[b]take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” ²⁰ Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹  The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might ^[c]travel by day and by night. ^22 [d]He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

Pharaoh in Pursuit

14 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ ⁴ Thus I will ^[e]harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, ^[f]Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶ So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him; ⁷ and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. ⁸  The Lord ^[g]hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out ^[h] boldly. ⁹ Then the Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel ^[i]looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, ^[j]bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²  Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘^[k]Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³ But Moses said to the people, “ Do not fear! ^[l]Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. ¹⁴  The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall ^[m]go through the midst of the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ As for Me, behold, I will ^[n]harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸  Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.”
¹⁹  The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. ²⁰ So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud ^[o]along with the darkness, yet it gave light at night. Thus the one did not come near the other all night.

²¹  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord ^[p]swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. ²²  The sons of Israel ^[q]went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. ²⁴ At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the ^[r]army of the Egyptians ^[s]through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the ^[t]army of the Egyptians into confusion. ²⁵ He ^[u]caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let ^[v]us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “ Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing ^[w]right into it; then the Lord ^[x] overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, ^[y]even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. ²⁹ But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰  Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ When Israel saw the great ^[z]power which the Lord had ^[aa]used against the Egyptians, the people ^[ab]feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,

 Where, in spite of all you can do,

 There is no way out, there is no way back,

 There is no other way but through?

 Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene

 Till the night of your fear is gone;

 He will send the wind, he will heap the floods,

 When He says to your soul, “Go on.”

 And His hand will lead you through – clear through –

 Ere the watery walls roll down,

 No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,

 No mightiest sea can drown;

 The tossing billows may rear their crests,

 Their foam at your feet may break,

 But over their bed you shall walk dry shod

 In the path that your Lord will make.

 In the morning watch, ‘neath the lifted cloud,

 You shall see but the Lord alone,

 When He leads you on from the place of the sea

 To a land that you have not known;

 And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,

 You shall be no more afraid;

 You shall sing His praise in a better place,

 A place that His hand has made.

                       -- Annie Johnson Flint.

 

From “Streams in the Desert”, pages 189-190;  Compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman; Zondervan Publishing House, A Division of the Zondervan Corporation; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Sixty-eighth printing April 1973.