CARRYING A HEAVY LOAD
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid
(February 17, 2020)
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46: 1, King James Version [KJV]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus Yahshuah,
My sisters and brothers, in Christ Jesus, I know how tremendously burdensome life is when you find yourself weighed down by the cares of the world. Many times the overwhelmingly proceed-with-caution or be-careful sensation is not as satisfying to your spirit as you hoped it could be and the walls of deceit build up around you threatening your very purpose, in the one body of Christ Jesus. Let me tell you, in the Psalm of King David, he did let us know he felt that feeling of uncertainty and dismay towards the way of the people. He said, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”[Psalm 46: 1, KJV]. Jesus carried the heavy load of sins to the cross. Jesus felt the deceit and hypocrisy among his kin.
With that said, Jesus dealt with the disbelief of his estranged family. The very depth of his soul felt the pain yet he continuously protected mankind. We found Jesus asking his father God in heaven to let the cup pass from him [Matthew 26:39, KJV, “And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”]. We found Jesus praying on the cross pleading in a greatly praised resolve to God, Father they know not what they do [Luke 23: 34, KJV, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”]. This outrageously heavy load of sins that Jesus carried were the souls off man that the redemptive power still leads on, overwhelmingly so [Psalm 69: 1-2, 18, KJV, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me...Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.”].
Most importantly, the weight of the heavy load of sins was immeasurably spiteful when he dealt with his family, on Earth, for those who witnessed, saw the denial and hatred that came out of the Jews towards Jesus because they obviously did not think the time was right for the Son of man to deliver the souls of man out of bondage, for the wages of sin is death. [Romans 6: 23, KJV, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”]. Could it rather be that in dealing with his family and Pilate, he felt he needed help, for he said, My servants, if they were here, then you could not treat me this way because they would not let you? [John 18: 36, KJV, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”]. Jesus felt he needed help to deal with such ill-mannered harsh feelings coming out of his kin towards him so much so that sentenced him to death when he spoke to Pilate. Remember the holy scripture, in the gospel readings exemplified his resolve when he spoke, in common sense teaching them still, not to escalate his punishment, to no avail [John 18: 22-23, KJV, “And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?”]. Do you remember in the 40 days of fasting when Satan tried to take Jesus away from God [Matthew 4: 8-9, KJV, “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”] Satan also wanted to take Jesus’ inheritance from him with lies and deceit when he tried to convince Jesus that he had everything?[1 Peter 5: 8, KJV, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”].
More importantly, the approach of Satan was when he thought Jesus was too weak to hold on. How is it, in fasting and prayers that the weakness of the body betrays you only for you to stand in the refuge and strength of God? Jesus did that. Yes, Jesus was still standing and made it through the visitation of the devil. He did not faint in temptation but we all must know he felt the heavy load of the sins of man and the hatred of Satan. According to Matthew, Satan tempted Jesus [4: 1-11, KJV]:
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
We find Jesus’ tempted for 40 days, also in Luke [4: 2, KJV]: “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.”
[wikipedia.org, “The temptation of Christ is a biblical narrative detailed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights in the Judaean Desert. During this time, Satan came to Jesus and tried to tempt him.”]. Mark [1: 12-13, KJV], in the gospel readings also witnessed the 40 days Jesus was tempted, “And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” Satan lied and acted like he had it all and if Jesus wanted any he had to deal with him. However, we know God did not give Satan the inheritance of Jesus.
Do you find in your life the misery of carrying a heavy load burdens you down? Jesus needed help to carry the cross. There was a man that helped Jesus carry the cross named Simon.[wikipedia.org, “Simon of Cyrene was the man
who was forced by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus. Cyrene was located in northern Africa in eastern Libya. A Greek city in the province of Cyrenaica, it had a Jewish community where 100,000 Judean Jews had been forced to settle during the reign of Ptolemy Sater (323–285 BC) and was an early center of Christianity.
The Cyrenian Jews had a synagogue in Jerusalem, many went for annual feasts.
Simon of Cyrene /sa?'ri?ni/ (Hebrew: ?????? "Hearkening; listening", Standard Hebrew Šim?on, Tiberian Hebrew Šim?ôn; Greek: S?µ?? ?????a???, Simon Kyrenaios) was the man compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three Synoptic Gospels.”]. Accordingly, in the witness of Matthew [27: 32, KJV] we find that, “And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.”
Moreover, Jesus’ strength to carry the cross to Calvary speaks volumes to the will of God, for laying down the sins of man on the altar of God had to have further greatly challenged him yet he came to save man. Who else could carry such a heavy load? The sacrifice of Jesus was the only sacrifice righteous enough to save man. Jesus in expression told his disciples they could not even make the hair on their head black or white .[Matthew 5: 36-37, KJV, “Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”]. In modern times, in the public ministry of Jesus, we find that the load of sins is still too heavy to carry and those in the ministry heavily weighed down in the disbelief do seek the refuge and strength of God, each blessed day to make it through it all, to come from under the bondage of oppression for those who were oppressed soon become the new oppressors, in a power play of glory. The glory belongs to God.[1 Corinthians 10: 17-18, 31, KJV, “For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?, ...Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”].
Henceforth, we find still that Satan is trying to thwart God’s plan by messing it up—-more than putting a monkey wrench in it, for Satan’s manifesto is steal, kill, and destroy. In reflection, we find research on point with supporting holy scriptures [blueletterbible.org, “The Devil has tried to thwart the plan of God from the beginning. He has attempted to do it in five different ways. His five target areas of destruction have been: 1. The Human Race, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”(Genesis 6: 5-6, KJV); 2. The Nation Israel,
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12: 1-3, KJV);
also, we find the Nation of Israel targeted in Esther, under the rule of Haman. This same Ham rule was used against African-Americans in the United States of America, “Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring. And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, that they should be ready against that day.” (Esther 3: 12-14, KJV); 3. The Promised Line, “The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.” (Genesis 3: 15, KJV); also, we find The Promised Line targeted “Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”(1 John 3: 12, KJV); 4. Jesus Christ, was targeted from birth known as the massacre of the innocents or the slaughter of the innocents, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.” (Matthew 2: 16, KJV); also, Jesus was targeted by Satan, “And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4: 9, KJV); also, Jesus was targeted, when Peter wanted to save him from dying on the cross, “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matthew 16: 22-23, KJV); also, Jesus was targeted in completing the mission of dying for the sins of man, “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30, KJV); and 5. The Church ,”And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16: 18, KJV); Luke 10: 1-11, KJV, “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. ...”; also, the church was targeted, Acts 11: 1, 8-9, KJV, “And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God... But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”; also the church was targeted over circumcision, abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication:—-, in Acts 15: 1-32, KJV, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.”; also, the church targeted until the end, in Revelation 12: 17, KJV, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
In closing, fighting the good fight even in the hard-won battles you can hardly say the battles became wars that were hardly bearable on the soul, for the sufferings of man were not a few moments in time or far-and-in-between but the thousand years which is God’s day and continues to go on, in the disbelief over Jesus and what he accomplished here on Earth yet the Church, is living proof. Truly, you might find yourself praying, Is it over? Lord, give me the strength —- fortitude to stay upright on the straight and narrow, able to survive the times of temptation, for the flesh is weak. On the battlefield, too many times to number them all, there is competition, vicious competition so much so, when it is all said and done, the new battle becomes who gets credit for finishing God’s works of faith.
We find this same problem in social media with pickups when one post does not do so well then picked up, it becomes a winning post. This is what happened with Jesus. The prophecy that Jesus would die for the sins of men goes back to the beginning in Genesis yet when he survived the baby killings and lived to walk the Earth in public ministry for all those who would not accept Jesus but rather did make the prophecy that Jesus would die for the sins of man, their own prophecy such as Caiaphas, “And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;” (John 11: 51, KJV).
Was he so puffed up that he would not accept the prophecy that was foretold unless it was in the Books of Moses or even more so, from his generation, in his family sect?
Accordingly, the Prophet Isaiah said, “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.” (Isaiah 53: 4-6, KJV, [aboutbibleprophecy.com, “Bible passage: Isaiah 53:4-6, Prophet: Isaiah, Written: Between 701-681 BC, In Isaiah 53:4-6, the prophet Isaiah, who lived about 700 years before the time of Jesus, prophesied that the Messiah would suffer for the sins of others:”]. Of the 7.7 billion people in the world as of the year 2019, how many do you suppose are living sanctified holy lives in Christ Jesus [wikipedia.org,
“In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living, and was estimated to have reached 7.7 billion people as of April 2019. It took over 200,000 years of human history for the world's population to reach 1 billion, and only 200 years more to reach 7 billion. “]. To think that Christ’s redemption is a bundled matter, as one body, we must consider that names are written down [Revelation 13: 8, KJV,
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”].
Do we fear that Christ will not represent us well before the throne of God because mankind is still responsible for his death, on Earth? Well, we count our blessings and name them one by one., in the old gospel hymn, “ [bibletruth.org, Sometime life’s trials are too difficult to understand. Sometimes life’s troubles are too hard to bare. Sometimes life’s pain is too much to tolerate. When those times come, you need to look to the LORD and count your blessings.”]. Who among us confessed not and continues living a life full of sin because God is a forgiving God? Let us consider this, Christ Jesus Yahshuah is carrying a heavy load of sins, answering to God for each name. Christ is standing but how are we standing when our sins obviously so, have us bent. This is not an apocalyptic discussion but we must consider the means we dwell in to the end[Revelation 13: 9-16, KJV, “If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”].
Christ be with you. God be with you. Walk with God. Amen.
