God's Allowance

[Bev]

If I ever doubted the fact or wondered if it were true or even forgot that it were once I knew.....I don't any more. God allows adversity, suffering, pain, trials, tribulations and yes, even death in order to fulfill His purpose and His will.

I have been reading today in John chapter 17 and was deeply touched by the 3 different prayers Jesus said shortly before His death. One was for Himself, one for His disciples and one for US!! Amazing? Yes in my mind it was, but thinking deeper into "the plan" it is not amazing but beautiful and so like Him. He prayed for God to watch over the disciples, to protect them and that they be united as He and God are. He asked this for his disciples and for those who "will EVER believe in Him". He prayed for unity, a "perfect unity" so that the world would know that God sent Him and that God loves us as much as He loves His own Son. Imagine that!!!

I was also touched in another way through a revelation that came from reading further into the meeting in the garden and the details that ensued; hence the title of this post.

There were 6 stages to Jesus trial. His mistrial in my opinion.

Before Jewish Authorities
1)The preliminary hearing before Annas (John 18:12-24) The office of high priest was for life so Annas was still recognized as such by the Jews even though the Romans had appointed another.

2)The hearing before Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57-68) This hearing, like the one before Annas was consucted in secrecy at night. It was riddled with illegalities whch served to make a mockery of justice.
a)Even before the trial began it was determined He must die. (Mark 14:1; John 11:50)
There was no "innocent until proven guilty approach
b)False witnesses were sought to testify against Jesus (matthew 26:59) Usually the
religious leaders went through an elaborate screening process to insure justice.
c)No defense was sought or allowed for Jesus. (Luke 22:67-71)
d)The trial was conducted at night (Mark 14:53-65; 15:1) which was illegal according
to the religious leaders' own laws.
e)The high priest put Jesus under oath but then incriminated Him for what he said.
(Matthew 26:63-66)
f)Cases involving such serious charges were to be tried only in the high council's regular
meeting place, not in the high priest's home. (Mark 14:53-65)
The religious leaders were not interested in giving Jesus a fair trial; in their minds He had to die. But would He, would they have had their way, if God had not allowed it? If it were not to His glory and according to prophecy and the ultimate plan, would any of it have been allowed?

Before Roman Authorities
3)Trial before the high council (Matthew 27:1,2) Just after daybreak 70 members met to "rubber stamp" and make appear legal the proceedings of the previous hearings.

4)First hearing before Pilate (Luke 23:1-5) The religious leaders had condemned Jesus to death on religious grounds but only the Roman government could grant the death penalty. So they took Him to Pilate and even though Pilate realized Jesus' innocence he was afraid.

5)Hearing before Herod (Luke 23:6-12) Jesus was from Galilee so He was sent to Herod (who was in Jerusalem at the time) to stand before him. Because Jesus, through silence at the request, refused to perform an impromptu miracle Herod washed his hands of Him and sent Him back to Pilate.

6)Last hearing before Pilate (Luke 23:13-25) Disregarding his heart and true feeling of jesus innocence due to fear of an uprising, Pilate turned Jesus over to be executed.

God had a plan and no one would or was able to detour from it. I am convinced that this plan is still unfolding today and we are all a part of it. Do we still have a choice? You betcha. Because of this event in history we have a choice. I know what mine is....."as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord"

Thanx for readin, God bless you all,
Bev

Information and reference taken from the Life Application Study Bible, NLT

[Carol Ann Poisson]

Hi Honey:
I loved the Post. You are 100% right. Jesus did have a plan, and Praise God He did what he did, and the way He did it, because I believe in our Human minds we would have messed things up big time. God new Our hearts, and I am sure He thought if I tell them what I am about to do they would do anything to stop Me, not knowing what Jesus was thinking they would stop him. because That is what Peter tried to do. Telling Jesus not to go to Jerusalem because they wanted to kill him. Jesus told Peter that he is thinking as man thinks not as God thinks.Thank God for God I say. If Jesus did tell them, we would not have our salvation. I cannot imaging what this world would look like, and how we would be if we all did what we wanted. As I said Thank God for God, because He knew we would mess things up royally. Good Post My Dear Sis, and know that we love you. TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!

In His Love
Sister Carol xo

[Charles Burwell]

Bev

Thanks for the reminder that God's plan is still going on in spite of all that's going wrong in the world. It's really hard to figure out sometimes, to me anyhow, what God is doing or what He has in mind. I'm sure the disciples were puzzled as to why Jesus responded the way He did, but I'm thankful to Him that He knows EXACTLY what He's doing and I can rest in the assurance that all will work out for the best because He has the Last word in everything.

Thanks for the reminder.

May God bless you in serving Him.