Blessings of God

until the ninth hour.

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama

sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou

forsaken me?

35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth

Elias.

Matthew 27:33-35

Notice the little phrase here “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” for a moment if you will. Which, being translated means roughly this: the cup of the Lord is gradually becoming as one in his hands. Perhaps the interpretation here does not do the matter full justice. Just think of an eternal God being forever separated from himself with the three parts, Father Son and Spirit never communicating if ever again. No wonder such a world as this in which we live is in the mess that it is right now. Look at this with me for just a moment if you will. Herein is where the eternality of God and the mortality of man finally meet up. Is he not fully God in this text. Yet he chose to die for you and me. As such, is he not also a being subject to like passions as we are the Scripture says yet without sin. As such, he sees, he feels, he knows our condition intimately if ever so well. Here is a name to be found in the first part of the text. It is that of Eli, very similar to that of Elias yet not far removed from that of the Father himself. Perhaps you remember the story of Eli that we heard once before how that high priest was a negligent father when it came to raising his sons. How unlike our Father God he is who is ever present, ever watching, ever involved in all man’s affairs. Might well you have heard of Eli, the absent father and also the priest. One day his sons met with their judgement from God. Eli who was sitting outside at the time heard the commotion. When the messenger came announcing the news, he was so shocked at the sight that he fell over backwards in fright. He met with eternity there on that day as truth be told he died from the weight of his grief and also the Lord. Notice the comparison made though with our Father God here in the text. I can almost hear it now as the words rang from the cross. ‘Eli Eli you have called me on a Sunday’ anything but the sinless, perfect Lamb of God. So then remains the rest for the people of God as Hebrews 3 can attest. Yet these have not been found though by entering in. Rather their state is seen as absent, a condition set apart from the Lord. Some of you may speak of his peculiar people all you please. Oh, it is mighty strange alright, I admit. Herein is the condition of rest found without God’s design. So then the issue between the way you portray him is also the same way you obey him seems linked to the first. You have called him on the Sabbath, the day of his rest. Yet how many of you know the true calling and nature of God. Then again, how many can attest to his rest. Some have called him anything but our ever- present help in times of trouble it seems. They have called him drunk, absent, hard, and uncarIng who would do nothing for this world in which you and I live. They have mocked him, spat on him, beaten him, crucified him, and planted his crown of thorns that he wore. Along with that brought him two thieves who also claimed to have some glory left to themselves. It is a situation very much like that old Gospel song which promises the glory to come after this. How many of you know you cannot have it both ways. It cannot be both your way and God’s way at the same time. Else would he not have bothered calling himself, Yahweh “I am that I am has sent you.” For after all that, what would he even be in our way for if not to remind us of who he is and his position down in this world. Yet in all that, see God our help for all our distresses. Here the situation lies alongside that of the mother which presented the Lord with her sons. She asked that he grant her one teeny, tiny little request. It was a small one to him no doubt but to her it meant a good deal. Matthew 20:20-23 tells how she demanded one sit on the right hand and one on the left. Jesus response was singular and striking in all of it’s strangeness at first. 

But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Well might you wonder where the combination of the cup and the baptism finally end up. Here we see with it the realm of the cup and with it have come some immediate effects. The dead have arisen and begun to walk among men. This is seen on his resurrection, a calling forth from the grave, as the dead saints that were with him also arose. Well might some have called him drunk I suppose. Is he not as Isaiah 53 says “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Notie then the people’s reactions as those hiding their faces from him or those seeing through a glass darkly at first. See then the second part of the first of those that esteemed “him striken, smitten of God and afflicted.” My, what a blessing it is seeing the setitng things right of the Son. It seems he will not tolerate any to be missing or broken, gone from his house no matter how ever, how long. Then again there is the matter of the veil being torn in the middle allowing things to cross freely from onto the other side be they the angels, spirits, or souls of all men. No longer would any in so-called purgatory finally end up. You know, that place promised the thief that believed on the cross, better known as Abraham’s bosom. It sounds awful nice to have a place to finally silence those cries of loss and despair and also of grief. In short, if you cannot fix the issue a little consoling would just have to do. Here we see Abraham as one who is not in charge of the issue nor yet as one who is offering solutions. Rather, he is seen merely as a large comforting figure, however ancestral or distinctly familiar. Such a scene hails back in size and proportion to the baptism of John as the beginning of work. This fulfillment of work is found in Christ beginning his ministry. How many of you know though that he is perfect in all that he does, quite unlike the men we have seen. So too does he finish whatever he began of the first. What a comfort that is knowing the same one starting is the one finishing all the way through. From author to finisher of our faith then it is so. Remember, Abraham himself was one with no water to offer or hope of belief though one should return from the dead. But we know him as none other than Jesus Christ the righteous himself. It is he then through whom this veil passed. Now by no means am I suggesting he is nothing more than a shade. Although, according to David, a shade at his right hand was just what he needed at times. I don’t know about you, but I just love this view of the Lord. Now is his ownership of eternity seen having death passed through itself and holding its’ keys. So then at the last, there remains a rest for the people of God found in Hebrews 3: ... Chronologically, keeping the kingdom and the calling forth of all men are seen as two separate events. Yet in Christ have they become one, connected together by one central thread. Is it not the scarlet line of faith of Rahab as she let down the spies. See, here we are only getting a picture as ones looking on in. Yet in Christ stands the reciever the holder the bearer of all life yet to come. So then back to the scene as at first. It opens with Eli being pointed out in the text. How imperfect he is compared with the Father it seems. It seems I can almost hear him now as he shouts out from the crowd. You have called him Eli and a messenger too. Now watch and listen and look what he will do. From under the altar in Revelation come the cries of his saints. Nor do their cries come unanswered, unheard, or hardly alone. He has answer for the prayers of his saints alright as it relates to the day of his rest. So too do the seven bowls find answer in this. For the Lamb that had been slain is hardly silent it seems. Well might you have called him drunk I suppose. Therein are contained in the bowls answer to the prayers of the saints. Are these not filled with the wrath of the Lamb which lives forever and ever. Yet for as God is just so is he also holy my friends. You can trust him on that. So then at the last are the ones who have called him all else to be found in the house. It is his house to which he does minister and that of none other, is he not my friends. Come with me now and let us see ought of the Lord. You have called him anything but I suppose. So then the Lord to answer their cries shows them both Eli and his messenger kept safely inside as Luke 23:46 points out. “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” he finally had said and with that has he all things that make for our peace returned to the Lord. That is why these are his bowls to offer and that of none other are they not my friends. Be it as it may, these he has entrusted for yet a short time until that all be fulfilled. For verily not one job, not one tittle, not one little scene from his Word will pass away verily except that all be fulfilled. In the fulfillment is seen our redemption as one would bearing a letter that just arrived in the mail. Signed, sealed, delivered, and with that our redemption is paid. From there is only the adoption to sonship and the crying of “Abba Father” from the saints not as those that go bump in the night. But rather as those brought into his glorious light.