Faith To Stay on the Cross
And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire…. Again a second time He went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it, Your will be done…. So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, using the same words. Mathew 39, 42, 44 (Amplified Bible Classic edition, AMPC) emphasis mine
And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword and, striking the body servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back into its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you suppose that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will immediately provide Me with more than twelve legions [more than 80,000] of angels? Matthew 26:51-53 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC) emphasis mine
Jesus had a choice. He did not have to die for the sins of mankind. He could have called on the Father to send angels and rescue Him from the cross and all the suffering He went through. However, He submitted to the will of God. He was a man in a man’s body. He knew the torture it would bring. He used faith to follow through and do what He came to Earth to do.
Yes, Jesus used faith to stay on the cross. He could have called on the Father and the angels of Heaven to deliver Him from it, but He used faith and stayed on the cross. Think of the faith He had to have to do that. He had to have faith in the Father and the Spirit that once He had paid our penalty in hell, that They would deliver Him and bring Him back to life. He had been a man of the Word and prayer. That is what gave Him the faith He needed when the chips were down. He had to believe that the power of Life was greater than the power of death. He had to trust that He would not be imprisoned there forever, but that the resurrection power of God would do what had never before been done. I challenge you to just ponder and consider that for a moment. In the face of excruciating pain, torture, mocking, and death, Jesus chose to believe God and He laid His life down for us. He had alternatives, but He chose obedience, even though it was the most gruesome, horrendous path to follow. His faith that He would be resurrected and that His death was not in vain carried Him through.
Just like Jesus, we also have to have faith for difficulties; faith to remain when we would love to flee. Most of the time we want God to deliver us out of tight places and rough circumstances. While it is true that God is our Deliverer, often He delivers us THROUGH things rather than OUT of things. This means that we have to have faith to stay in uncomfortable places until the time is right to move on. There have been so many seasons in my life where I was praying and believing for God to get me out of that place and onto the next thing He had for me. Yes, He got me out of those places, but it was on His timetable and not on mine. And I had to have the faith to stay where I was until He released me to go. That wasn’t easy, but faith in His faithfulness enabled me to obey.
Premature removal from trouble can negatively impact our spiritual growth. It is often in the hard times that we experience the greatest growth. We gain strength for future battles that we wouldn’t otherwise gain. We learn deep lessons that will benefit us in future seasons, and we press into God and know Him more than we would in good times. When the enemy brings bad things, God uses them for our benefit- usually in ways we don’t expect and would have never requested. We have to have faith and trust that God will deliver us when the time is right and when the trial has worked in us a greater weight of glory. We have to use our faith not to take shortcuts to get out of a season before God’s time.
For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], II Corinthians 4:17 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC)
