The Day Drawing Near

“When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.”—Luke 9:51

Jesus came to earth on a mission—to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Nothing would stop Him in His mission that God the Father had sent Him to do. Time and again He had the opportunity to show Himself and fulfill the purpose of His coming, but up until this moment it was not yet His time (John 2:4; 7:6, 8; 8:20). Herod had tried to snuff Him out soon after His birth, Satan had tempted Him right after He started His ministry, and the Sanhedrin was plotting how to kill Him, and even Peter tempted Him to pursue another way other than the suffering of the cross, but for Jesus there was no other way. He had to suffer in order to save us; God had planned it long ago and the moment was just days away. Jesus, aware of the agony and pain that awaited Him in Jerusalem “set His face to go to Jerusalem.” The wording in this verse conveys intensity, resoluteness, a focus toward a goal with a determined will. Jesus had a goal to go to Jerusalem, and nothing was going to stop Him. And it was all because of His love for us. He loved us so intensely despite our sins and shortcomings, our habits and headaches, our attitudes and actions—He still chose to die.

In our text for today, we have “the days drawing near,” which means that this had been ordained since the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). As Paul wrote,  

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons”—Galatians 4:4-5. 

He came to live the life we could not, then die our death and pay the price that we could not pay. He was born under the law. The law that we were born under but could not obey perfectly—He could. He came born of a woman to fully identify with us in order to save us and bring us to Himself. And through Him, we have everything. We have forgiveness, peace, new life, new love, and a purpose.

We have eternity written on our hearts—the deposit of His Holy Spirit that draws our hearts and minds to eternal life with Him. Eternity—not as diapered angels sitting on clouds, strumming harps, but in the land of eternal bliss and joy, longings of this world finally fulfilled in all of their grandeur, majesty, and magnificence. The tastes and pleasures of this world are warm-up acts for the world to come—the everlasting, all-consuming joy of Christ will fill us in ways that we cannot imagine.

Scientists say that we only use 10 percent of our minds—in eternity we shall use it all—the mysteries of the universe will be seen, known, and if not understood, will be delighted in as we see them all contained in the person of Christ. These bodies will be transformed to be like Christ’s glorified body. John describes this great mystery:  

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is”—1 John 3:2.

Have we lost the mystery of what Christ has done and what awaits us in eternity? Have we become dull and dumb in our comprehension of the Savior? We need to experience His fabulous grace and the Gospel story all over again by meditating upon the riches of His love shown through the Scriptures. We need to be renewed in our understanding of who He is and what He has done. May God give us new eyes and hearts to see and comprehend the majestic love that enabled Christ to “set His face to Jerusalem.” He came to die for us—and may we live for Him. Amen.