|
|
|
|
“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:8-11).
David’s prophecy of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus gives a glimpse of Jesus’ mindset throughout His life and ministry and is summed up in the opening words of the Psalm – “I have set the Lord always before me.” “Equally set” – every thought, every word, every decision, every action – was in complete harmony with the Father. It formed the axis of His thinking that guided His life and empowered Him to endure the cross.
The words He spoke were His Father’s words; His actions, the Father’s will carried out. In this way God the Father was always in the place of honor in Jesus’ life – at His right hand.
The bedrock of resurrection thinking is to have the mindset of doing the will of the Father which always looks beyond the tests and trials of this life and by faith sees the joys and pleasures of heaven that will be ours with Him for eternity.
Verses 9-11 prophetically express Jesus’ joy in knowing what lay beyond the cross. He knew that God, His heavenly Father, would not “abandon” Him in the grave. But during those cruel hours on the cross God did abandon Him. The heart was not glad, the tongue did not rejoice – His body was not secure, but severely scourged and stabbed with a soldier’s spear.
All this Jesus endured, despising the shame of the cross, because He knew God would not let His Holy One see decay. The Father had already made known to Him “the path of life” and He anticipated the joy of the Father’s presence and the never-ending pleasures at His right hand.
This is Resurrection Mindset!
“This is noble encouragement to all the saints; die they must, but rise they shall,” said C.H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers. Or, as Paul put it, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
|
|
John Stephens
Administrative Director, International Department
Institute In Basic Life Principles
|
|
|
|
| You are receiving this email because you requested reports and updates
from IBLP at iblp.org. |
|
|
