Like other people, I’d heard some stories about the man named Jesus. He’d done unheard-of miracles and had lived a life that was upright and clean.

So, I never thought I’d arrive in Jerusalem at such a terrible time, of seeing Him being brutally led to His own crucifixion…that was the scene.

It seemed incomprehensible that His acts of compassion were being “rewarded” with this punishment to which He was going.

I could see that He was becoming too weak to bear the heavy cross; He’d obviously been scourged, and blood from the stripes was flowing.

Suddenly, I was pressed into service by some of the Roman soldiers. I was ordered to carry His cross, in His stead, as His strength was depleted.

Had He done something criminal that I hadn’t heard of in His recent past? I didn’t know, but the mocking and reviling were being repeated.

Of course, I didn’t appreciate being singled out for such a despicable task. It seemed obvious to me that I’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But something in the eyes of this Jesus, who staggered beside me, reflected kindness; and I sensed something noble or majestic—nothing of crime.

After reaching the destination, I couldn’t bear to watch the proceedings. If He’d been wrongly accused, there was nothing I could have done to stop the event.

So I left; but, later, darkness came over the land, and an earthquake caused tombs to open. Some people were reported as having been raised from the dead after the temple curtain was rent.

After all that had happened, a centurion and other guards declared that, truly, Jesus was the Son of God. Perhaps my unchosen role in this—being singled out—had, instead, been a divine appointment.

A great many people were recipients of Jesus’ ministry, and believed that He was who He said He was. That day lives large in my memory; and His disciples are saying that His Name is God’s healing and saving ointment.

P. A. Oltrogge

One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, regarding a man made well by the name of Jesus, spoke to the rulers, elders, and scribes gathered in Jerusalem:

“…let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone.  And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12 NASB

According to the word of the Lord, the prophet, Elijah, journeyed to a brook, which was called Cherith, east of the Jordan–and from its waters he took.

God told him to look to the ravens, for His provision of meat and bread. Both in the morning and in the evening, Elijah was thereby fed.

But there was no rain in the land, for Elijah had prayed for its delaying–to prove that his was the true God, not Baal, as King Ahab was saying.

The waters of the brook didn’t last then, so he needed again to move. God told him to go to Zarephath, where His provision again He would prove.

Elijah saw there a woman gathering sticks, a widow, as God had said. He called to her, asking for water. Then, he also asked her for bread.

She replied she had only a little flour in a bowl and a little oil in a jar. The sticks were for a fire to cook a bread cake, which wouldn’t go very far.

She had thought she and her son would eat it and then prepare to die. To her surprise, Elijah said that was the reason that God had sent him by.

He told her God wanted to provide for her, and her flour and oil wouldn’t fail. Sharing with him first, as a prophet of God, was all that it would entail.

So she did as Elijah had told her, serving the food first to him and then her son. She believed and trusted in God, that their lives weren’t over and done.

Day followed day and they always had meals–her supply was not diminished. It’s a Biblical lesson of security through faith–we’re blessed before God is finished.

During Jesus’ ministry, a little boy’s lunch, of fishes and loaves that seemed few, became enough when blessed by Him; and He blesses giving the same today, too.

P. A. Oltrogge

(from 1 Kings 17)

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….” Psalm 23:1

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38 NKJV

“The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.” Proverbs 11:25

There are many Christian ministries (one’s own church, first) that are “good ground” (proclaiming the gospel) in which to sow seed, mixing faith with your giving. The Biblical account about the widow of Zarephath, above, is an example of the faithfulness of God in our lives when we give into the gospel.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22

(All scriptures NASB, or as noted)

Power of the Tithe, by Bill Winston, under “Store” at http://www.billwinston.org

God Owns My Business, by Stanley Tam, at http://www.christianbook.com

Garden of Gethsemane
Jerusalem, Israel

The historic country of Israel is where Jesus once walked and taught, as well as having been the place where His many miracles were wrought.

Today, His followers make pilgrimages there, believing that they will find, a sensing still of His presence and memories of a very special kind.

They want to walk where the Lord Jesus walked and sail on Galilee’s sea, visit Calvary’s site—then go to where His empty tomb is said to be.

They picture Jesus turning water into wine or observing the Passover feast, teaching the Beatitudes on the mountain, or causing fish and loaves to be increased.

This land is where the Lord healed lepers or those who were blind or lame; and Jerusalem is where He told His disciples to wait to receive of the Holy Spirit’s flame.

The city of Jerusalem, over which Jesus wept, was a prominent city of His day; and its importance to the heart of God has certainly not diminished today.

Jesus wept for those who didn’t recognize that, through Him, scripture was being fulfilled. God had sent Him to be the solid rock of one’s life, upon which every believer should build.

Today, many of Jewish descent are returning to make their home in this land, all of which has been foretold in prophecy, fulfilling what God has planned.

P. A. Oltrogge

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Romans 1:16 NKJV

“Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and to great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22-23 NKJV

“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:13-16 NASB

…prophecies on the return of the Jewish people to Israel:

“Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, ”when it will no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.’ For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.” Jeremiah 16:14-15 NASB

“Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations, and will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isaiah 11:11-12 NASB

“And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better (unto you) than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I (am) the Lord… For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you unto your own land.” Ezekiel 36:11; 24 KJV

…the land of Israel will bloom:

”In days to come, Jacob will take root; Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6 NIV

For further interest:

http://www.kcm.org and/or http://www.emic.org

http://www.jerusalemprayerteam.org