The World’s Darkest Hour

Time is short, we hear this a lot, but time really is short. We are on this earth for such a fleeting moment and then it will be over. We therefore have a small window of opportunity to choose our eternal destination before it is too late. The choice is simple, there are only two destinations.

Source: Josh McDowell Ministry

I am currently reading some of the classic sermons of Billy Graham and in one of those Sermons’ reference is made to the last hour of Jesus's life, which is described as the ‘World’s darkest hour’. The sermon goes into graphic detail of the pain and suffering endured by Jesus and provides a vivid reminder of the love of God for us, that He loves us so much He sacrificed His one and only beloved son so that we can be reconciled to Him. What jumped out at me is where it is pointed out that Jesus knew He would endure this pain and suffering for the whole of his life; John 2:4 ‘Jesus replied. ‘My hour has not yet come’ and Luke 9:21 ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life’.

Imagine if you had to live the entirety of your life knowing that your death was going to be painful beyond anything you could ever imagine and that you knew with certainty that your last days on earth were going to be so horrific?  Well, Jesus did, and it is hardly a surprise when Jesus asks His Father if there is another way; Matthew 26:39 ‘he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’. Notice that Jesus is not asking for this not to happen, but asking if there is another way. In order to purge sin from this world and to reconcile us back to Him in purity, it was necessary to do this in the harshest and most devastating way to enable us to be cleansed once and for all. This is what Jesus did for us, He took all of our sins, all of them, and He paid the price for us. How can we not love Him? How can we not be thankful to Him every single day?  How can we not give everything in our lives to Him? He gave everything for us and took our place on the cross. There are no words that could do justice to the Thanks, Gratitude, Praise and Glory that He deserves, it really is beyond words. 

We know that one day we are going to pass from this earth, but only God knows the precise moment for each of us. Those who have excepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will not endure the consequences of their sin because Jesus did that for us. We will not be ridiculed, spat at, whipped or nailed to a cross (although we deserve to be). Jesus suffered for us so that God would see us a blameless, as spotless and pure. Jesus knew that even though He was sinless, that He would suffer for the sins of mankind. This is why God brought Himself to earth, through Jesus, because He wanted to bring us back to Him. That's how much He loves us. Wow!

Source: re-Ver(sing) Verses

Jesus crucified on the cross is a reminder of the pain and suffering for all eternity that awaits those who do not know Him. Matthew 13:49-50 ‘This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’. The empty cross is God's gift to those who know Jesus, showing that our sins are forgiven, all suffering is taken away, all pain is gone and a resurrected new life in eternity awaits! Sadly, there are many who choose to ignore and to accept the gift that Jesus gave us, which the Bible refers to as foolishness; 1 Corinthians 1:18 ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’.

Time is short, we hear this a lot, but time really is short. We are on this earth for such a fleeting moment and then it will be over. We therefore have a small window of opportunity to choose our eternal destination before it is too late. The choice is simple, there are only two destinations. Do you want to spend eternity in hell enduring the same pain and suffering that Jesus did before He died and where you will be thrown into the blazing furnace? or do you want to spend eternity in heaven and be with the Lord forever?‘ 1Thessalonians 4:16-17 ‘For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever’. It would seem to be an obvious choice, but the Bible tells us that many will not realise until it is too late. Matthew 7:13-14 'Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it'. Everyone has the opportunity to choose their path and to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and all will acknowledge and bow before Him, even those who have refused to recognise and acknowledge Him; Philippians 2:10 ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’.

I leave the final words to Billy Graham; ‘But before the triumph, before the crown, before the kingdom, before the victory, there had to come the suffering. Before you can share in Christ's victory, before you can have a new life here and now, before you can go to heaven, before you can claim the promise that we shall someday reign with Christ, you, too, must come to that same cross. You, too, must come in simple faith and stand at the foot of that cross’.

Prayer - Father, I thank you for loving me so much that you gave me Jesus so that I have Him in my life to watch over and guide me, to comfort me and to love me. I thank you that through the sacrifice of Jesus I will spend eternity in Heaven with you. I pray for all of those lost souls who ignore or refuse to accept Jesus, that you will remove the scales from their eyes and they too will come to the foot of the cross, so that they can experience your love and look forward to eternity with you. I pray this in the magnificent name of Jesus. Amen

Author: Gary O’Neill

May God bless and enrich your life   

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