Walking with Jesus 2021 - on the road to the cross - Holy Trinity Horsham
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Week 1
Walking with Jesus
on the road to the cross
2021
Cover design George Hicks
Ven Lionel Whatley
Week 6
5th SUNDAY IN LENT 21st March 2021
Insight from the Scriptures
I think there’s a tendency in Prophets, he explained to them
today’s church to downplay the what was said in all the
importance of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning him-
or ‘Hebrew Scriptures’ as Jews self.” (Luke 24:27). Afterwards,
prefer to call them. Some even “They asked each other, ‘Were
suggest that the God of the Old not our hearts burning within us
Testament is warlike and venge- while he talked with us on the
ful whereas in Jesus, he is loving road and opened the Scriptures
and merciful, almost like two to us?’” (24:32).
different Gods! But the Hebrew
Prayer
Scriptures were Jesus’ Bible!
He studied them from his youth Lord God, thank you for all the
(Luke 2), quoted from them, Scriptures, both Old and New
used them to defeat Satan when Testaments. May we treasure
tempted. Later, after his them in their entirety, even the
resurrection, on the Emmaus bits we find hard to understand,
road, he explained them to his and may our hearts “burn within
confused disciples: “And us” as your Spirit teaches us
through them.
2 beginning with Moses and all the
MONDAY 22nd March 2021
Moses meets God
There's an amazing passage in Intriguingly, the root word that
Exodus 34:5-7 where God conveys mercy also connects to
reveals his nature to Moses. pregnancy; a mother’s womb is
“Then the Lord came down in called ‘rechem’. When I think
the cloud and stood there with about how a child is protected in
him and proclaimed his name, its mother’s womb, I think about
the Lord. And he passed in front how God protects us and nur-
of Moses, proclaiming, tures us, watches over us. We
‘The Lord, the Lord, the com- are his beloved.
passionate
and
gracious
God, slow
to anger,
abounding
in love and
faithful-
ness,
maintaining
love to
thousands,
and
forgiving
wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
Prayer
Here is God, describing himself
to Moses! Many think of God as Thank you Lord, that the
uncaring, if he even exists, but Creator of the universe is such a
he longs for Moses (and us!) to God - “compassionate and
grasp his true nature. The gracious, slow to anger, and
Hebrew word ‘rachamim’ means abounding in love and
mercy or compassion and the faithfulness.”
word ‘rachim’ means something Make us like you.
like darling or beloved.
3
TUESDAY 23rd March 2021
Isaiah glimpses heaven
What an amazing vision the praises of the heavenly host.
prophet Isaiah had; he was In Hebrew, ‘holy’ (kadosh)
witnessing the worship of means ‘set apart, other,
Almighty God in His heavenly different, unique’ and the word is
realm.
“In the year
that King
Uzziah died, I
saw the
LORD, high
and exalted,
seated on a
throne; and
the train of
his robe filled
the temple.
Above him
were sera-
phim, each
with six
wings: with
two wings they covered their repeated to grab our attention.
faces, with two they covered Only God is absolute
their feet, and with two they holiness but he calls us to be
were flying. And they were holy too. (1 Peter 1:15).
calling to one another: 'Holy,
Prayer
holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his Lord God, you are holy. Fill us
glory.'" (Isaiah 6:1-3). with your Spirit and help us to be
different and not to allow the
In traditional Jewish worship
world around us to squeeze us
these verses are recounted each
into its mould. Amen.
day as the person praying seeks
to join their voice with the
4
WEDNESDAY 24th March 2021
Why doesn’t God just forgive us?
Because God is holy, he cannot himself so that we can be
just turn a blind eye to sin. We spared. This is the meaning of
even demand that our human forgiveness (the offended party
leaders call out corruption and carrying the offence rather than
wrongdoing, how much more inflicting its consequences—
should God! death—on the offender).
In Exodus
32:32 we
see Moses
pleading
once again
with the
Lord to
forgive the
sins of the
Israelites.
Why
doesn’t
God just
forgive
them?
Well,
forgiveness
isn’t some-
thing that can be casually dished Prayer
out on demand, like sweets to
Dear Lord, thank you for your
naughty children! Forgiveness is
mercy in forgiving us at your
a deep problem that only God
own cost. We lift our nation and
can and ultimately will resolve.
our leaders to you. We pray for
Moses asks God to forgive; in
all those in authority. Give them
Hebrew ‘to carry’ their great sin.
wisdom especially as they guide
Somebody has to bear this sin.
us through this pandemic.
Ultimately, God will carry it
5
THURSDAY 25th March 2021
The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53 is one of the most riveting chapters in the Old Testament,
pointing toward the suffer-
ing servant to come. We
see so many prophecies
relating to Jesus, particu-
larly to his death, showing
the Messiah not as a con-
quering political saviour,
but as God’s answer to the
deep problem of for-
giveness. Spend some
time meditating on these
astonishing verses:
It was for this that Jesus “set his face towards Jerusalem”. When
Jesus died on the cross he said, “It is finished”! He had done what
he came to do. he had borne the sins of the world.
“Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our trangressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on
him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
(Isaiah 53:4-6)
Prayer
Lord, we can only bow in worship. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.
6
FRIDAY 26th March 2021
Sins washed away
Psalm 51:5,7,8 true. It’s liberating, because it
“Surely I was sinful at birth, chimes with what we know about
sinful from the time my mother our own hearts – that we
conceived me … Cleanse me constantly miss the target and
with hyssop, and I will be clean; fail to live up to even our own
wash me, and I will be whiter standards, let alone God’s!
than snow. Let me hear joy and I praise God that I am a forgiven
gladness; let the bones you have sinner, daily being transformed
crushed rejoice.” by grace.
If you ask people what sin is, Corrie Ten Boom said: “God has
most will start by going through forgiven our sins and he has
a list like murder, theft etc. But is thrown them in the deepest sea,
sin just these negative acts? The and put up a sign: ‘No fishing’.”
Hebrew word for sin (‘chet’) is
Prayer
related to the word ‘lehachita’
which means making a mistake Lord, help me to believe you
or missing a target. Today in our when you say that if we confess
secular society, it’s considered our sins to you, you are faithful
old-fashioned and insulting to and will forgive us our sins.
think of oneself as a sinner. But Forgive us when we “fish them”
in fact, I think the opposite is back up again and again.
7
SATURDAY 27th March 2021
Judgement and Mercy
As we read the Bible, we see removed our transgressions
that God will punish sinners in from us”.
his anger and forgive sinners in His anger against sin is real, but
his mercy, two difficult concepts his nature is to forgive all who
to hold together. seek his mercy.
Psalm 103:8-12 tells us that Prayer
“The LORD is compassionate Father, you do not treat us as we
and gracious, slow to anger, deserve or repay us according
abounding in love. He will not to our sins. Your love is so great
always accuse, nor will he (‘as high as the heavens’) and
harbour his anger forever; he your forgiveness as wide as the
does not treat us as our sins globe. Your Son, Jesus Christ
deserve or repay us according was called the ‘friend of sinners’
to our iniquities. For as high as and gladly accepted what was
the heavens are above the earth, intended as an insult. Thank you
so great is his love for those who that you are my friend.
fear him; as far as the east is
from the west, so far has he Amen.
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