The Timing Of Glory

I was doing a bible study In Mark 15, this is where Jesus was already arrested and the crowd had a chance to vote whether to free Jesus or free Barabbas a man who took a life during a rebellion. As we know the crowd voted for Barabbas to be freed, that is how Jesus officially went to the cross. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. 

Remember, Mark is the second of the four gospels so this is the second time I was reading about Jesus being crucified. The part that stood out to me was in Mark 15:44 the bible says

“Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet.”

Mark 15:44

Pilate was surprised that Jesus died. It’s good practice to ask questions as you read the text. Why was Pilate surprised? 

Was it the beating he took before the cross? Was it the way they hung him on the cross and as I began to question the text the holy spirit reminded me that Jesus rejected vinegar or sour wine as they call it in the bible? I was reminded that Jesus reject one of the wines but took the second one that was offered to him. 

So again I had more questions, what did the wine have anything to do with death and who would be a vinegar taste in their mouth as they were dying on a cross? It seemed like additional discomfort for no reason. Either way, I had to investigate the two wines because the holy spirit pointed them out.

As I went back and read Mark 15 the Holy Spirit spoke again! He said

“Though the suffering is painful, it doesn’t have to be long’.

From the time that Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the garden of Gethsemane to the time of his death was less than 24 hours. But imagine Jesus’s position and how the suffering probably felt like an eternity. 

As I looked back and read about the sour wines that were offered to Jesus I realized the two wines were different. The first wine he denied had Myrrh. The wine with myrrh would have eased his suffering and prolonged his life. According to the Smithsonian Magazine Myrrh has an medicinal opioid-like effect on the body, they used it in biblical times to help ease the pain of the cross. But Jesus clearly wasn’t interested in prolonging things. Everything that Jesus did was in immediate obedience to the Father. 

If Jesus was argumentative in court it would have prolonged his life, if Jesus defended himself it would have prolonged his life. Our own actions are what can sometimes make the trial last longer than it should. Jesus didn’t get in the way of the cross, whether he retaliated, argued, or took the painkiller it wouldn’t have changed the fact that he had to go to the cross. When he knew it was time to leave this earth he acted in immediate obedience.

But when we look at Mark 15:36-37 the bible says 

Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

Mark 15:36-37

And though Jesus rejected the wine with Myrrh, we can know Jesus took the hyssop wine because John 19:29 tells us

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:29

Hyssop is an interesting plant, especially as it pertains to the crucifixion of Christ. In biblical times Hyssop was used for ceremonial cleansing. According to Bible study tools.com Hyssop was used in ritual cleansing, it was used for lepers who were healed to be cleansed so they could enter back into the community with their people. 

Hyssop resembled a spiritual cleansing in Psalms 57:1 King David says 

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” 

Psalms 57:1

It’s funny that Jesus chose the sour wine that would cleanse him to enter into the community before his death but rejected the sour wine that would lessen his suffering and delay his death. It almost seems like Jesus knew exactly what he was doing here. ((sarcasm))

There is always glory on the other side of your obedience. There’s always a process that has to happen for God to fulfill his purpose for your life. God has a plan and you aren’t in control of the timing, but like Jesus, if you submit to his plan with immediate obedience, you can get where he wants you to go faster than you would if you were fighting the process. 

God is a good father he wants you to have good things but not at the expense of his glory. He deserves our praise and worship and submission because he is God all by himself and sometimes his presence is the present. It’s not about what God can do FOR you, but what God can do THROUGH you. If anyone remembers you, let it be for the anointing of your life that brought God the glory he deserves.

God allows suffering but it’s not forever. There is glory on the other side of your pain dont try to delay it. God only allows pain for a purpose. Romans 5:3-5 says:

“…We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit…”

Romans 5:3-5

In Matthew 26:39 Jesus asked God to allow the cup to pass from him, but we have to know that sometimes the cup was created for us. God doesn’t just give us pain, He trusts us with it. He knows what we’re made of. He knows that we will serve him even when things get dark. Again and again, in the book of Psalms David said my soul WILL praise you and God knew it, that’s why he chose David. God chose your cup for you because he made you able to carry it. 

Jesus didn’t want the pain he was called to but he only did God’s will. God wants us to honor him with our sacrifice because Jesus was an example of God giving his sacrifice to us. Jesus is an example that our suffering is never in vain. Night does not last, pain does not last, but the eternal glory of God will stand forever. 

God is trusting that you will see it through to the end, that you will carry your cross. God will see you through he will never leave you, he will never forsake you and he will never make you do it without him. God is with you, his rod and his staff comfort you and he will be there every step of the way. In Proverbs 3:5-6 The bible says

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

Even if everyone else gives up on you remember, sometimes you just have to say God this hurts but I trust you, and press forward in immediate obedience. 

There’s Glory on the other side of the pain just dont delay it!