Devotion Corner
Luke 22:14: And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
The sadness of suffering and loss comes to everyone, regardless of a person’s wealth or prestige. The bitterest of sufferings ever known was experienced by the Lord Jesus over the course of the first Easter weekend. If such awful events were to come to our door, we would run from it with all our might. Yet the Lord’s ways are not our ways, they are higher and of Heaven (Isaiah 55:8-9). The might of God does not tremble at the shadow of death, and so the Son of God sat with a fixed heart amidst His beloved disciples.
He did so to begin the opening of the gates of Heaven unto all who call upon Him as their Lord and Saviour. An opening that was secured at His triumphant resurrection from the grave! But such victories cannot be won by a heart that faints at the sight of battle. It is the greatest victory ever known, and one that He rests in as He now sits at the right hand of the Father in risen glory! He sat with His beloved disciples even though He knew all the horrors that would soon come to Him, for He saw the joy that was to be set before Him (Hebrews 12:2)!
We are to follow our precious Lord Jesus, not fleeing the hours of trouble that come to us, but instead sit assuredly. That assurance being the faithfulness of Christ Jesus; that He will cause every tempest of life to pass over us, so that one day we too will sit with Him in eternal glory. This joy we shall share with those beloved disciples of Christ, for we are bonded to them by the Lamb of God Himself! To know this assured joy of Christ, is to know the peace of God! This is the desire of our Lord, that we would know His peace, even when our hour of suffering has come (John 14:27).
The Lord Jesus did not rise from His throne at the approaching of Satan in Job chapter one. He did not rise from His seat as suffering and death approached Him in Luke 22:14. Yet He did rise to secure us a way to salvation! A way that marched through His certain victory at Calvary and the empty tomb! A way lined by the triumphant song of the angels of Heaven, as they sing the praises of God for His grace as revealed in the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus at Calvary! Let our song match the heavenly melody of those angelic hosts. Yet ours will be sweeter still! For whilst they can only look in on the grace of God from the outside, we redeemed in Christ, can sing in full knowledge of its innermost wonders!
