John 13:18-20
Let me be very clear, Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords; He is the Great I Am, the only Son of God, but he took on skin
and became like us with this exception; His Father was God not Adam. That is a fact I often overlook, Jesus had
emotions, He got hungry, and He enjoyed a good story, or joke, and when working
in His earthly dad’s carpentry shop and wood fell on His foot, He experienced
pain. The writer of Hebrews has this to
say about Jesus in chapter 4:15, “For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
How often do you take this truth
into your mind as you are reading an account like Jesus washing his disciples
feet? In todays Scripture Jesus is
letting these twelve, handpicked men in on something Jesus knew before the
foundation of the world, that one of the twelve would sell him out for thirty
pieces of silver. In verses 18-21, we
have this account; “I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I
have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has
lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place,
that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say
to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me
receives the one who sent me.” “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled
in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say
to you, one of you will betray me.” (John
13:18-21 ESV)
You cannot read that without feeling
the pain, and you can bet the farm that Satan did not miss this opportunity, to
say in a voice that sounded just like Jesus’ voice, your God and you do not
have to put up with this, you do not need to go to a cross for a Judas, or
anyone, just follow me and I will make them worship you. The unseen spirit world was all present at
that moment, it was a battle for the mind and the emotions of the Christ, it
was a cosmic battle of the powers of darkness, but Jesus ran to the Father and
said not My will but Yours, and it was so.
What should you and I take away from
this? The enemy of our soul speaks in a
voice that sounds much like our own, and it is the deception channel, it comes
after great success and also after we have failed; its message is a simple message;
you deserve better, or you are stupid and should do away with yourself, my friend
Bill called it channel 1. Bill reminded me of this key concept – The power of sin is going to function in
the same manner as the Holy Spirit, but with the opposite intent.
Be
sure you are tuned to the right channel!
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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