Appointed To Bear Fruit: A 90 Day JourneySample

Your Future Is in God’s Hands

We can be confident that those who deny themselves and are humble in heart will not be disappointed by Christ. When we are courageous enough to obey Christ and follow Him, we will be filled with confidence that our future is indeed secure in Christ. He invites us to go against our flesh and the world’s norms. Self-denial and serving others means placing your future in the hands of God. 

As believers, our confidence is founded in the omniscience of Christ who was never surprised by any situation that occurred. When Jesus wanted to eat the Passover meal in Jerusalem with His disciples, He gave them instructions, saying: “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you” (Mark 14:13). Jesus knew exactly who would be passing by, when, and carrying what. Everything was known by Jesus. He also knew that He was going to be betrayed by Judas and would be arrested that very night in Gethsemane. Because of His knowledge of what was to come, it would have been easy for Jesus to avoid Gethsemane and escape the trap that was set for Him. But He didn’t. 

Once they had Jesus in their custody, the Jewish leaders treated Jesus with cruelty and humiliation. Then after the Sanhedrin had condemned the Son from Heaven for blaspheming God, several people covered Jesus’ head and “spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?’” (Matt. 26:67-68). Don’t be mistaken. If Jesus knew the position of a person carrying a water jug through a busy city, He certainly knew who hit Him. Nonetheless, Jesus let them treat Him like this because He knew that everything that was happening was part of God’s plan to pay our debt of sin. 

Yes, it was easy for doubts to arise about whether Jesus really was the Son of God. As long as Jesus was showing His power through the working of miracles, people believed that He was the Christ. But now that He seemed powerless to even defend Himself, people were reconsidering their beliefs about Christ. Perhaps some thought that He was a fraud or that God had left Him. We should not doubt Christ even in the darkest of times. Jesus knew what was to come, so He prepared His disciples beforehand by telling them all that would happen. He knew precisely who, how, and when He would be handed over to the Jews. After all, it had been prophesied more than 1,000 years earlier in Psalm 41:9. The Father’s plan to redeem us from our sins through the Son’s death on the cross was set in motion from the beginning and not suddenly thought up by the Father.

Jesus said that He was telling them all these things so that they would know that He is God. When the situation appeared bleak, Jesus testified about Himself. Even His betrayal by a close friend could not derail the Father’s plan. Although there seemed to be no hope, it’s exactly at that moment that Christ shown His light in the darkness. “I am he.” All the attacks of the devil cannot destroy Christ’s testimony about Himself. Instead, it was through the cross that once and for all He defeated Satan. 

Application:  Are you confidently placing your future in God’s hands?