We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,
so that we do not drift away.
Hebrews 2:1
The Sound of Certain Victory
“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.”
Amos 8:9
The darkness shrouded our Lord, and at the moment when He suffered
the most extreme agony, His suffering was hidden from all human eyes.
The impenetrable secrecy of those last hours is what enables us to
imagine and appreciate the inconceivable suffering He endured. In
His previous hours of suffering, He had been exposed to view. But
human eyes were never intended to see Him in His supreme anguish.
There is no way we could ever do justice in describing that horrible
time, so God hid it from us.
If Jesus’ experience as the Sinbearer revealed itself on His face,
as Isaiah seems to indicate in his fifty-third chapter, and if it
affected His appearance that men should take no notice of Him, then
those last hours in which His sufferings climaxed must have impressed
themselves on Him in unequaled severity.
Gethsemane is described for us in Scripture, but we read nothing about
the last half of Calvary. Peter,James, and John were given an audience
to His private suffering in Gethsemane, but at Calvary, God drew the
drapes of darkness around Him to hide Him from human eyes.
Oh, the mysteries of that suffering! No man’s eyes should ever see them.
All that man was permitted to know of His suffering was to hear the terrible
cry of incomprehensible pain and torment. Yet in that cry was the sound of
certain victory, for the mournful cry, “Why have you forsaken me?” follows
only upon the heels of the confident shout, “My God,my God.”
from The Six Miracles of Calvary by William R. Nicholson. Pages 24,25
The Power of the Dogs
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.
But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to
help me.
Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from
the power of the dogs.
Psalm 22: 16-20
Truth
fallen in the streets
the scent of REBELLION IS
in the air like
smoke of a fire
comes from everywhere
TAKING whatever it desires
yet cries go out for JUSTICE
and cries go out for
PEACE
but the TRUTH
has stumbled stumbled
fallen in the streets
fallen in
THE
STREETS Lyrics by Fraglen from ” the Power of the dogs” CD
“IT BECOMES VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR THE STATE
TO USE ALL OF ITS POWERS TO REPRESS DISSENT,
FOR THE TRUTH IS THE MORTAL ENEMY OF THE LIE,
AND THUS BY EXTENSION, THE TRUTH IS THE GREATEST
ENEMY OF THE STATE.”
Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda (1933-1945)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
Daniel’s Prayer
I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“Oh Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all
who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We
have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands
and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in
your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people
of the land.
“Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame—the men
of Judah and people of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far,
in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness
to you. O Lord, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with
shame because we have sinned against you.
The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed
the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets.
All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant
of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have
fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great
disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done
to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has
come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our
sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the
disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have
not obeyed him.
“Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and
who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done
wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your
wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our
fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord,
look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your
eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests
of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord,
forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and
your people bear your Name.”
Daniel 9: 4-19
In all Things
You’ve spent your day on a moving train, working nonstop for 14 hours.
You’ve carried suitcases, run errands, made beds, shined shoes, and
politely greeted countless passengers, even the rude ones. If you’re
lucky, you’ll get four hours of sleep tonight. You are a Pullman porter.
In the 1920s, job opportunities for African Americans were limited. At a
time when most worked as sharecroppers or housekeepers, the job of a Pullman
porter was highly respected in the black community. Porters had steady work
and got to travel around the country. But their friendly smiles and neatly
pressed uniforms masked the hardships of the job. Porters clocked 400 hours
a month, earned low wages, and could be fired for speaking up about their
difficult working conditions.
Pullman Porters Chicago 1920’s
Chicago Museum
Facing Freedom In America
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along
with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God
has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died –
more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding
for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all
day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 31-39
