BEFORE The Cross, We Were On His Mind!
-------------
Revelation 13:8 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.
Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
-----------------------
We heard the hymn saying, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”
• But the truth is that we were always on his mind.
• When we read of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, we are reading about the PLAN of God to have Christ die on the cross for our sins.
• This was planned before the world began and before Adam even sinned.
• God so loved us that He had us on his mind back before the world was created.
• At that same time He chose us in Christ.
• He planned that we be put into Christ one day in salvation.
That is how much He loves us.
John parallels Genesis’ creation, giving us the account of the beginning of the new creation.
• In Genesis 1 and John 1 we see “In the beginning.”
• We see reference to WORD creating.
• We see references to the LIGHT.
• And we even see day after day listed in which certain things were accomplished.
• Jesus is the Light!
• He is the WORD that spoke forth the light in Genesis.
• John gives account of the new creation.
And we read of the new creation and note that Jesus’ mind was on us all the time.
• It is interesting when we come to the third day in John 2 at the wedding of Cana of Galilee.
• Mary notes to Jesus that there is no wine at the wedding.
• And Jesus replies to her quite strangely.
John 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
His hour was not yet come?
• What was his hour?
• What was he thinking about?
We find that Jesus used the term HOUR elsewhere, giving us a hint of what he was thinking about.
Mark 14:35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
In other accounts we read that Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane was that the cup would be removed or passed from him.
• He referred to the experience of suffering the cross when he referred to the cup.
• But here we read he called it the hour that he prayed would pass from him.
• So we find that the term HOUR here is also referring to the period of suffering for our sins.
• Therefore, when he told Mary that his hour had not yet come, after she asked him for wine, we discover that the thing that was on his mind at the wedding was us!
• He thought of the WINE of the Holy Ghost that would be given to the church after His death on the cross.
• Since the Holy Ghost could not be given until Jesus was glorified after dying on the cross, we discover that He was thinking of the cross and the subsequent joy of giving the church the wine.
• Since he was at a wedding He thought of His own wedding when the church would be His bride!
• And the wine at this wedding would be the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:13-17 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
What was the joy set before Jesus that caused him to endure the cross?
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Wine in the Bible is representative of joy.
• The joy set before Him was the knowledge of the church having the wine of the Holy Ghost, after He endured the cross.
• The cross would supply Himself with a church born of His Spirit.
• He had to suffer to get that church!
• And He thought of all of that at the wedding of Cana.
Then we read more indication that we were on His mind.
John 2:13-19 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Jesus was asked by what authority did He claim right to cleanse the temple.
• And what He responded with was an indication that we were on His mind.
• He referred to the temple of his body when he thought about the temple and what right he had to cleanse it.
• And we read that the church is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
When he saw the temple cluttered with moneychangers, His mind was on the temple of the Church – His body.
• The reason the zeal of the house of the Lord had eaten Him up was because He was so mindful of the church that he thought about the devil cluttering up mankind and how that He must raise mankind up through the vicarious death and resurrection of His body, cleansing mankind of sin when he saw the moneychangers in Jerusalem’s temple.
• He had His mind on driving out sin and the devil from mankind when he drove out the moneychangers.
• We were ALWAYS on his mind.
Then we come to John Chapter 3 where Nicodemus talked to him about his ministry.
• Jesus turned the conversation around to speak about new birth and birth of water and Spirit.
• And He referred to the new creation using LIGHT as a point of emphasis again.
John 3:18-20 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
And John the Baptists speaks of Jesus and indicates the scenario of the Bride and Groom, just as we find it in Genesis chapter 2 where Eve is taken from Adam’s side.
John 3:28-31 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I [must] decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
Jesus must increase.
• The groom must increase.
• This is spoken just after John refers to Jesus as the bridegroom.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God told Adam to MULTIPLY.
• Adam would literally multiply by having a rib taken from him and made into his bride.
• And then the two would parent children.
• Adam would increase.
• And John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the groom who must increase – multiply.
• He will increase through having a bride, as Adam increased.
In John Chapter 4 we again see that we were on His mind.
Jesus goes into Samaria and meets the woman at the well.
• She had five husbands.
John 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Like the woman with five husbands, obviously looking desperately for fulfilment in this life, people look to the five sense of their flesh to fulfill themselves.
• But nothing will ever satisfy us like Jesus.
• He gives water that will cause us to never thirst again.
• We were created to live in the Garden.
• Everything we needed was provided in there.
• And anything outside it will never satisfy us.
• Outside the Garden is where sinners dwell, never finding satisfaction.
• It was as though Jesus introduced the woman to the Garden.
Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
This lady came to the well at the sixth hour.
• It was at the sixth hour on the cross that the sky went black.
• I can think that Jesus had His bride on His mind during the sixth hour on the cross!
In the Garden was water of life and fruit of life.
When the woman thought of water, Jesus thought of the living water he would give His bride.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
When The disciples thought of meat, Jesus thought of spiritual meat.
John 4:33-34 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
He had us on his mind.
That woman at the well embodied in His mind the church, His bride.
• On the cross Jesus cried that He thirsted.
• But it was not water he thirsted for.
• He told the woman to give him water at the well.
• He was hungering and thirsting for the church the bride!
• We were always on his mind.
• From the era before the world began, and especially after He was incarnate and readying to go to the cross, we were on His mind!
• The greatest love story to ever unfold is of the Church and Jesus Christ.
=========================0000========================
