Valiant Men

I Samuel 10: 26 NKJV "And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched."

Once Samuel announced God's appointment of Saul as king of Israel, some dramatic things began to happen, just as Samuel had prophesied. 

In the midst of the opening days and weeks of Saul's kingship. God began to show up. "The Spirit of God came upon Saul" (I Samuel 10:6), and he called the people of Israel to holy warfare.

Saul met up with a group of prophets (I Samuel 10) and was filled with the Spirit of God. The transformation of Saul's being filled with the Spirit was so dramatic, that a man fearful of public speaking became a prophet! 

Valiant men gathered around King Saul, attracted to the charisma of the Spirit of God that was upon him. Saul, along with these courageous warriors, went to war against the godless and idolatrous Ammonites, and were victorious.

A valiant person is brave, courageous, and fearless in the face of danger. When I think of valiant men and women, I think of courageous people of faith who faced the danger of impossible odds with a reckless abandonment of themselves to a mighty God whose purpose seemed to call them to an impossible task.

I think of Dr. Becky Luman. I first met Becky when she was a student at Mount Carmel High School in 1969. My parents were teachers and dorm supervisors at Mount Carmel. Becky was a preacher's kid from Pennsylvania who enrolled as a dorm student. She was appointed to her student work assignment as our family housemaid. I followed her life and career. In 1989 she was employed full-time at Wesley Biblical Seminary. She advanced from secretary to the president to a full-time member of the faculty. 

In 2013, Dr. Luman valiantly accepted a role as a member of a presidential search committee at WBS. I was the candidate. In the midst of organizational chaos and despair, Dr. Luman saw hope for a future. The search committee recommended me to the Board of Trustees and I was hired as the president. This valiant woman led a charge of faith, hope, and victory, and now she is completing her 30th year at WBS. 

In 1998, Rev. Rob Pocai became one of my students and advisees at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. In February 1999, he surrendered his all to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and was dramatically and remarkably filled with the Holy Spirit. In 2013, Rob was pastoring a church in Kentucky. He was living in his dream home. Life was comfortable for Rob, Holly, and their daughter, Isabella. 

I will never forget calling Rob on May 4, 2013. Weeping as I spoke, I said, "Rob, the WBS Board of Trustees has interviewed me for the presidency of WBS. If this happens, I need you on my team."

It did happen, and Rob, called by God, joined the team. This valiant man of courage and faith left everything comfortable behind to become a leader at Wesley Biblical Seminary. 

Valiant people make a mighty difference. Valiant people like Dr. Matt Friedeman, Dr. Steve Blakemore, Dr. Rick Boyd, Dr. Gary Cockerill, Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer, and Peggy Price, filled with the Spirit of God stepped forward at Wesley Biblical Seminary to advance a mission for the authority of Scripture and the call to holiness. 

Today, Wesley Biblical Seminary is impacting students from 18 states and 11 nations. Governance and fiduciary crises are behind us. We are moving into a new campus in Ridgeland, Mississippi. We are approaching record enrollment. And we have had a front row seat to some of the greatest miracles of our lives. 

"Valiant men when with him, whose hearts God had touched." I am thankful for valiant men and women of courage, faith, and resolve who have blessed my life. 

Further Loss of Civility

Colossians 3:12-17
"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."


Our culture suffers from a loss of civility. We speak to each other in rude soundbites. We play a game of "gotcha." We expose one another's weaknesses and failures in a perpetual attempt to scramble to the top of the heap and pronounce ourselves as pre-eminent. All too soon we are knocked from our perch. 

Hour after hour of cable news viewing, social media networking, and much of our interaction will condition us to incivility and unkindness. Our speech deteriorates. Our conduct degenerates. Our lives becomes angry.

Name calling, character assassination, and profanity prevail in public discourse. Politicians, actors, newscasters, and academics participate in plundering civility. The bounty of the culture war seems to be a temporary trifle of power, and a longterm shredding of society. 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: "When we forget what is due to ourselves and to others, when the feeling for human quality and the power to exercise reserve cease to exist, chaos is at the door."

Chaos has knocked and we have granted cultural admittance. 

Bonhoeffer continued: "Unless we have the courage to fight for a revival of wholesome reserve between people, we shall perish in an anarchy of human values."

You are made in the image of God. Everyone else is too. Live like it today, by God's grace. Welcome kindness. Let it flow from a heart of perfect love. Live in peace. Thank God and others. Sing. Rejoice. Live largely in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Alone and Together

I need Christ's church. I need the Body of Christ. While my faith life exists in periods of isolation and separation from the body of believers, God also creates me to partake in the "fellowship of believers."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book devoted to living together in community. He called it Life Together. In it he said, "We recognize, then that only as we stand within the community can we be alone, and only those who are alone can live in the community. Both belong together. Only in the community do we learn to be properly alone; and only in being alone do we learn to live properly in the community. It is not as if the one preceded the other; rather that both begin at the same time, namely, with the call of Jesus Christ" (Life Together, pp. 82-83).

The Hebrew (10:23-25 NKJV) writer wrote: 'Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

I travel extensively with my work. Travel often conflicts with Sunday worship in my home church. I love my work, but I miss my home church. Sunday always finds me in worship. But Sundays are most special when Beth and I are home. I usually fill in as Sunday school teacher for our class, giving our regular teacher, Albert, a break. I occasionally fill the pulpit for Pastor Jay. 

I find that I need other believers. I need the Body of Christ. 

Wednesday mornings are spent with a group of Christian men who disciple one another in the faith. A dozen or so of us gather in Bible Study challenging each other to become disciples of Jesus Christ. We read a brief passage of scripture and talk about five discipleship questions. 

1. What is Jesus saying?
2. Who is Jesus today?
3. What has Jesus done for you recently?
4. How can I feed others?
5. What am I believing Jesus for this week?

But fellowship and discipleship time with others is not enough. 

I need time alone with the Lord. 

I can only contribute into the spiritual lives of others as I  encounter my living Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. I can only give as I have received. So, early mornings are spent in the quiet place. I read devotional books, the Holy Bible, write devotional thoughts, journal, and pray.  I seek to furnish my soul in isolation with God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to my heart. 

Are you assembling together with other believers in Christian fellowship, Bible study, prayer, and public worship? Are you tending to your own inner private spiritual life?

Remember the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Only in the community do we learn to be properly alone; and only in being alone do we learn to live properly in the community."

Anarchy Ascending

Incivility has overtaken public discourse. 

Honorable dialogical processes have been corrupted with innuendo, unsubstantiated accusations, slander, and character assassination. 

Dignity has been assaulted, dragged through the streets in utter shame, and exposed to exploitation in the name of justice. Courageous civil servants have become victims of anarchist flash mobs spewing threats and intimidation.

Revolution has no justice. Revolution is about lynch mobs. Anarchy. Revenge upon the powerful. Insurrection.

The Bolsheviks are on the ascendancy. Riots in the streets. Pursuing public servants to private spaces with accusations of “Bourgeois pigs.” The proletariat seeks to flout all order and revolt against all rules. 

“Power to the people”?

A coup d’etatof rebels against civil liberty.

Saul Alinsky was a noted American Marxist and anarchist.  He provided the playbook for insurrection and revolution that included brutality, mockery, ridicule, tactical pressure, terrifying action, threats, lies, and incessant focus upon hated targets. 

Power to no one. Dignity to no one. Worth to no one. Justice for no one. Utter nihilism on parade. 

Dorothy L. Sayers gave an address titled The Other Six Deadly Sins(1941) to the Public Morality Council at Caxton Hall, Westminster. She boldly proclaimed an indictment against the sin of amoral tolerance.

“In the world it calls itself Tolerance; but in hell it is called Despair… It is the sin which believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it would die for.  We have known it far too well for many years.  The only thing perhaps that we have not known about it is that it is mortal sin.”

The political and social deconstruction of order by anarchy’s chaos demands its religious, intellectual, and philosophical twin. In this Bolshevik scheme of anarchy and revolution, there is no sin except to oppose the imposition of the state religion. Anarchy’s social disorder thrives on this truthless doctrine. The state religion, the twin of chaos, is tolerance.

The bourgeois is overthrown. The proletariat is promised power. The once powerful are oppressed, punished, tortured, and even executed. Lawlessness abounds until the revolutionary guard is entrenched in its military enforcement of the oppressive state. 

Groupthink. Thought police. Mind control. Liquidating objectors. Gulags. Work camps. Cultural reprogramming. 

We have seen this all before. 

And what is it about? 

Power. Immorality. Atheism. Abandonment of truth. 

Libertine celebration denies all moral compunction, spiritual value, and divinely created reality. 

But in the face of ascending anarchy, a transcendent God of order, beauty, and love reigns over all. In love, He looks upon his creation, broken and wounded by sin. From ancient times, the Hebrew King David described the glory of the creative Lord of the universe (Psalm 8 NKJV). Creator God establishes His order and beauty in the midst of our sinful anarchy and chaos. 

O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

When You have Won

I Chronicles 22:17-19 NKJV
"David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 'Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.'"

God is with us. When God called Beth and me to Wesley Biblical Seminary, He called us away from everything we knew and loved. The call was to leave everything and follow Jesus. The call was to the unknown. "Go where I send you." The old spiritual provides the direction, "Children, go where I send thee," and then asks, "How shall I send thee?"

How, indeed? God is with us. He sends us. Yet, He accompanies us. He is with us each step of the way.

God is our Victor. The battles of conquest are often fierce. But He is our Victor, our Champion, and He brings the angel armies with Him to the fight. In obeying God to come to Wesley Biblical Seminary, we were faced with the greatest challenge of our lives. Yet, God has worked the greatest miracles of our lives. Financial provision, enrollment, friends, healthy governance, debt resolution, real estate sales, and relocation. These miracles have been brought about by faith, industry, relationships, and utter dependence upon God.

God is our rest. He subdues an out of control, violent land. Unrest surges before us like the waves of the sea. He subdues the turmoil, the chaos, and brings peace. But we have to maintain our trust, commitment, and poise amidst the chaos and uncertainty. We must depend upon Him.

Seek the Lord. Seeking the Lord is a matter of the heart. David told Solomon to "Set your heart." Chaos demands that we turn our face from the surging conflict that seems to flood us, and move our attention, focus, and person into God's Presence. The unremitting waves of conflict dictate dependency upon divine intervention. David recognized that God had subdued the land from all of the warfare, bloodshed, and unrest that had defined his kingdom.

The chaos and conflict of battle have a way of focusing one's attention. But when there is peace in a subdued land, distractions abound. Resolve must be maintained. Intention. Purpose. Laser-like focus.

Advance. The task before Solomon would be the temple--a house of worship--a dwelling place for God. 

What is the task God has put in front of you? This is not the season of ease. This is the season to possess and build. This is the season for which you fought the battles. You are victor through our Lord who has fought for you. Fulfill the purpose for which He has brought you to this moment. You have won the war, now win the peace. Advance.

Objective Truth

I just saw the news headlines. A former President of the United States of America, in a speech to an international audience called for a rediscovery of objective truth. Although I seriously doubt the integrity of the challenge. If sincere, I applaud the call for objective truth.

In recent centuries, Western thought has been shaped by three lines of reasoning: science, subjectivism, and socialism. The Enlightenment gave us science with its focus upon truth, an external knowable reality, and hypothesis testing. Science advanced by forming educated guesses, or hypotheses. Then scientists gathered data, analyzed it, and drew conclusions that either supported or refuted their hypotheses. The quest was for truth.

Subjectivism gave us the study of art, literature, and culture. Subjectivism reduces truth to the individual's perspective. Subjectivism provides insight into relationships saying that where two people's subjectivity overlaps in a shared way, they may enjoy meaningful connection and relationship. The quest is for meaning.

Socialism reacted against science. Socialism claims that power is the only dimension that matters. Some have it. Others don't. Power exists where the subjective claims of the intellectual elite insists it exists. This invisible group of elitists intersubjectively share in an attempt to bring about revolution to upend the socially constructions of power in a culture. The quest is for social justice through revolution.

Science is agnostic about God, meaning, and justice. Subjectivism loathes truth at the price of meaning. Social justice abhors objective truth, preferring to advance its socially constructed agendas, conferring popular truth claims upon them.

We have ceased to think. We only feel. We only feel what culture tells us to feel.

The following quote may seem obscure; nevertheless, I believe it is important. WWII Germans were faithful to the Nazi agenda out of deluded duty to country. They embraced a socially constructed truth that turned out to be a lie.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Those who limit themselves to duty will never venture a free action that rests solely on their own responsibility, the only sort of action that can meet evil at its heart and overcome it. People of duty must finally fulfill their duty even to the devil."

If science fails us, subjectivism fails us, and socialism fails us, there must be a better way to know what we know! Philosophers call the way we know anything our epistemology.

I call you to truth in the person and presence of Jesus Christ, who said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32 NKJV).

In Jesus Christ there is objective truth: "You shall know the truth." One Person is truth.

In Jesus Christ there is subjective meaning: "You shall know the truth." This truth is personal. You can possess this truth, this reality, in relationship to a living Person, Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ there is social transformation. "The truth shall make you free." The transformation that Jesus Christ brings is not one of constantly shifting, politically correct, social justice. The transformation that Jesus Christ brings is one of social holiness in which you are transformed spiritually, personally, relationally, culturally, and socially. You become a person of peace, joy, and love in Him.

All epistemology collapses in one Person, Jesus Christ. He is the Holy Spirit conceived, virgin born, holy, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and coming Lord of Lords! You are a free moral agent with rational choice. Choose Jesus Christ. Choose truth. Choose action. Choose to do that which is morally right and good.

Get Out and Go!

On April 11, 2013 I read these words from Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw, Sr. in my devotional time.

"God's way for us is seldom what we would have chosen. This is one fo the sweet surprises that God has for us. When we trust Him and follow Him along unexpected ways and to unexpected places, we find as we look back that the ways and places always fit. We recognize that they were just right for us" (This Day with the Master, April 11).

Eight days later, April 19, 2013, Beth and I shared with our daughter and son-in-law that our season of ministry at the Bible college we had called home for 21 years was coming to an end. Life as we knew it was about to take a major turn. The call of God seemed Abrahamic. And we had no idea where God was leading us.

“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV).

We did not understand the ramifications of it all, but we recognized the disquieting urgent call of the Holy Spirit. "You are too comfortable. Follow me to the greatest challenge of your life. I will be with you."

One month later, May 18, 2013, I accepted the presidency of Wesley Biblical Seminary. Obedience has caused major disequilibrium in our lives. Challenges have been monumental. But the miracles of grace and transformation have been overwhelmingly greater in magnitude and scope. 

Dr. Kinlaw closed his devotional for April 11 with these words: "In Christ, our fears are never justified, but our faith always is!"

The past five years have been filled with some of the greatest miracles of my life. I praise God for counting me worthy to have experienced and endured the discomfort, pain, and fear so that He might grow my faith and obedience in service to Himself. 

I Believe in The Resurrection

“Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?’

“But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.

“But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.’”

Mark 16:1-7 NKJV

I know the reality of resurrection power. 

When the Lord called me to Wesley Biblical Seminary in 2013, many believed WBS to have died. I attended the commencement ceremony on May 4, 2013. Thirty-nine graduates celebrated the completion of their studies. Longtime friends and employees feared that their legacy was at an end, and their mission disrupted. For many, the commencement ceremony doubled as a funeral service. The black robes of dignity symbolized mourning. 

But God was calling together a team of people of faith who believed in the power of the resurrection. Five years later, Wesley Biblical Seminary is robust and effective in her mission. Ninety-three percent of debt is resolved. In five years, over 50 additional graduates will have received diplomas from WBS. May 11, 2018, the first cohort of doctoral students will be rewarded with diplomas. Vision, innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit, and faith abound. 

I believe in resurrection. I have witnessed 21st century resurrection from the dead. 

But my belief in resurrection reality is not based upon my limited observation and experience. Oh yes, we hear resurrection stories about how God has brought people and even organizations back from the dead. I believe in resurrection life and power because I believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only human being who ever raised Himself from the dead. But Jesus is very God and very man. He raised Himself from death. He became victor over death. He descended into Hell and seized the keys of Hell and death.

Jesus believes in life.

I have seen the power of resurrection life in my parents. Mom asked Jesus into her heart as a child. Dad did so as well. They have lived their lives deliberately and on purpose for Jesus Christ. They raised four children with intention. They made the Christ-life, the cruciform life, so appealing that I wanted to live it too. By God's grace, I have. I believe in resurrection life and power because of my parents' life and witness. 

Our son, Nathan, is a pastor on staff at a Wesleyan church in Michigan. The church has a culture of intentionality regarding witnessing and genuine Christian conversion. Each week that someone is converted through the ministry of the church, a candle is lit on the platform. The candle lighting is always accompanied with celebration and applause. They believe in life.

Dead has been raised to life. I believe in life. I believe in resurrection. 

He is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

The Completeness of the Cross

I Corinthians 1:18-25 NKJV

The Jews wanted sensation. The cross was only a momentary sensation, and a disappointment at that. The Greeks wanted wisdom. The cross seemed like such a waste to them, and that was surely foolishness. But what does the cross mean to you?

For you and me, the cross speaks of separation, sacrifice, and salvation. Jesus was tried before the elite of His countrymen. He was convicted on trumped up charges before an illegal court. He, the Lamb of God, gave Himself for the sins of His nation, His people, and the whole world. Jesus, through His sinless life and death, became the once for all sacrifice.

But He did not remain in the grave. The scandal of the ages is that He arose from the dead, He conquered graveyard guards, a government grave seal, doubting disciples, pernicious priests, death, Hell, the grave, and our slavery to sin. He became our Champion, our Victor, our Savior. And through the cross, He brings salvation to all who believe on Him.

But what is your response to the message of the cross?

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:26-31).

He is our wisdom, not mere sensation or human reason.

He is our righteousness, our forgiveness.

He is our holiness, our sanctification. 

He is our redemption from destruction, the One who gives order and meaning to life.

The cross continues to be controversial!  But the Christ of the cross calls us to Himself, inviting us to experience His great salvation through the cross. All too often, in our sinful, self-indulgent state, we recoil.  The sinful self is:  self-preserving, self-protecting, self-pleasing, and self-prospering.  But Jesus calls us to self-denial.  He calls us to the cross.  Salvation and self-denial involve coming to Jesus, confessing our sins, clean living, consecrated living, crucified living, confessing Christ, and being confessed by Christ. He who took up the cross for the sins of the whole world invites us to take up our cross and follow Him.

John Newton penned these words of verse.

In evil long I took delight,

Unawed by shame or fear,

Till a new object struck my sight,

And stopp'd my wild career:

I saw One hanging on a Tree

In agonies and blood,

Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.

As near His Cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath,

Can I forget that look:

It seem'd to charge me with His death,

Though not a word He spoke:

My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,

And plunged me in despair:

I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,

And help'd to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did!

But now my tears are vain:

Where shall my trembling soul be hid?

For I the Lord have slain!

A second look He gave, which said,

"I freely all forgive;

This blood is for thy ransom paid;

I die that thou may'st live."

Thus, while His death my sin displays

In all its blackest hue,

Such is the mystery of grace,

It seals my pardon too.

With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,

My spirit now if fill'd,

That I should such a life destroy,

Yet live by Him I kill'd!

John Newton, 1725-1807.

The Controversy of the Cross Part 2

I Corinthians 1:18-25 NKJV

So what did the cross mean for Jesus? For Jesus, the cross was both prophetic and personal. Jesus, the Son of God, who was bound together in Holy Trinity with Father and Holy Spirit in eternity past, spoke prophetically after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15).

Jesus was present in Holy Trinity, slaughtering the first animals to provide a sacrifice to cover Adam and Eve, protecting them from the shame of their sin.

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”  Blood of animals was shed to provide a covering for the sinful couple” (Genesis 3:21).

Jesus was present in Holy Trinity, as Abraham trod the steeps of Mount Moriah to heed the call of God and offer his only son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice. He was listening as Abraham spoke in faith.

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together…” (Genesis 22:8).

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were inspiring Isaiah as he prophesied the hope of the Gospel in the Messiah of God who was to come.

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isaiah 53:4-8).

Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, prophesied that Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world from the time of Jesus’ baptism at the beginning of His earthly ministry.

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Luke records Jesus’ resolve to go to Jerusalem, although it would eventually become the place of his execution on the cross.

“He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 51 NKJV).

Jesus knew that the cross was His destiny. Jesus revealed this truth to the Apostle John, and He recorded it in the Revelation when John referred to Jesus as

“... the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).