"Peace Revered"

"For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David." (Psalms 122:5)

  I was reminded about something yesterday, as Pastor Bryan was sharing about Naaman and how he was cleansed of leprosy by dunking seven times in the dirty Jordan River. The regrets that we have about some of the sins we have committed, they might haunt us, and they might cause us to feel shame, but they are no longer what we are going to be judged by, for those sins are gone! "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalms 103:12) That is from a Psalm of David, which in my Bible, has the title over it, "God's Love." One of the names that is given to Jesus, is the Prince of Peace; a name that is associated with royalty and provision, as in, the One that administers peace with authority. Some might ask, Why was He not called, The King of Peace? Might be a dirty little secret, but it had to be done the way it was done! I heard another message the other day about Jesus on the cross, saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Without getting into a really long discussion about the why's of the way's, let's just say that Jesus was taking our place up there on that cross, and He was being judged for our sins; even though He was free of sin, He was being judged for our sins! We might not understand a lot of what God is doing, the why's and the way's, but if there is anything that can put our trials in some sort of proper perspective, having the Prince of Peace cry out, "My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken Me?" is a pretty good example of, "All things working out towards the good," to mean "ALL!" Actually, He was quoting the beginning of a Psalms, Psalm 22 to be exact. The title of that Psalm in my Bible, is, "Anguish and Praise." It is really not that hard to understand, Jesus had to suffer for our sins, therefore, He was in anguish through His suffering; which is why the rest of that verse says, "Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" Isaiah 53:10 gives us a clear understanding of the why and the way, saying, "Yet is pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." It is the end of Psalm 22 that sums up what this is getting at, and why it is that He is the only way. I hope we truly understand how much God loves us...

"They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." (Psalms 22:31)