Jesus Does The Unthinkable
This blog post is Part 1 of a series entitled "Unto The Nations" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN.
Message Date: October 22, 2023
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Has there ever been a quiet day in heaven?
Of course, it goes without saying none of us for sure knows all there is to know about heaven. Nonetheless, if there have been such days in heaven, I would presume these three days would have been on such a list:
A Day of Silence in Heaven:
1. The defying of God’s will. Genesis 3:6-7
This was the first of many sad days to come for humanity - the day that Adam and Eve defied God’s commandment and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I can imagine that at the exact moment they both took a bite of the forbidden fruit, an eerily quiet swept through the halls and streets of the Holy Kingdom as all of heaven understood the ramifications for humanity that would follow.
2. The innocent is adjudicated guilty.
While hanging on the cross, Jesus did not merely die. No, for those 6 hours, He took on the weight of sin for all of humanity, and, at this moment, Jesus became sin.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
I presume that such a position our Savior embraced left all of the heavens speechless.
3. The Christ leaves heaven.
I presume, if in fact there has been a quiet day in heaven, this very day may have been the quietest of all; the day occurring over 2,000 years ago when, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, left heaven and came to earth. What must that day have been like when all of heaven knew that the only Son of God was leaving heaven and willingly choosing a 33 year charge to go unto the nations?
For, until this time, Jesus and His Father have known uninhibited and uninterrupted intimacy. And once leaving heaven, Jesus knew that there would soon be a time when His Father would do something that He had never before done and would never again do... turn His back on His Son. And then, knowing the time would come, a mere 33 years later when, while hanging by nails in agony on a tree, Jesus would scream:
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
Have you ever wondered what heaven was like on the day Jesus left? Jesus, who has always been, Jesus who is, God’s very Son, chose to become as us to reach us:
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
John 3:13
He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. Ephesians 4:10
How - could - He - actually - leave? I have wondered this so very many times before now. How could one leave the magnificent City of great walls with twelve gates? A city not guarded by weapons and people and artillery. Instead, a city guarded at each gate by angels. On these gates are written the names of twelve tribes. Each wall has a foundation upon which are the names inscribed of the twelve apostles. These walls are not made of brick and mortar. Instead, they are adorned with pure gold, jasper, glass and every jewel. The streets within this city are gold. And this city is not illuminated by the sun at day and the moon at night. Instead, it is the light of the very living God that radiates throughout the streets of the heavens.
How could Jesus leave such a place to come to earth fully knowing the rejection, manipulation, anger, pride, injustice, deceit, brutality and eventual death that awaited Him?
Could it be that, at the very moment Jesus left heaven and entered into the womb of Mary as both fully God and fully man, heaven became eerily quiet? Why? All of heaven knew that for me to ever reach this wonderful and indescribable place, Jesus would not merely be leaving the Holy City which sits high on a mountain and is a radiant Mount Zion clear as crystal. No. In order for me to be granted access into the one true City on a Hill, Jesus, God’s one true Holy Son, would be required to become sin.
Pause to comprehend this for a moment. And if you can, try and do so in light of all that has happened in our world in the last 14 days. On Saturday, October 7th, 2023, the nation of Israel was rocked with the brutal and bloody and beyond comprehension attack from the people of Hamas. The photos from that part of the world speak for themselves. I am confident you have watched, as have I, in horror as innocent people, couples, friends, the elderly, and even young babies who, not yet even old enough to walk or talk, were found riddled with bullet holes from the attacks of these barbaric people. Such horrors are unspeakable and truly leave us without words to describe what has happened in this part of the world. We pray for Israel. We unite with Israel. We stand with Israel.
I wonder if, too like me, you have watched and listened speechless as videos and photos continue to surface of the inhumane way in which no regard for life has been exercised among these brutal and barbarous peoples. Such an atrocity makes me sad and frustrated and broken and angry. I’ve asked, “How can there be such pure evil in the world?” When I consider the sin of those in Gaza, I become disgusted. Do you?
Such a revelation however has truly convicted me the past two weeks as I have come to fully understand and realize:
I am no better. My sins are different. However, my sins render me just as guilty as the sins of anyone else.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. James 2:10
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2
So… Jesus leaves heaven. While attending their flock, shepherds were in awe as the black, night sky lit up like a Christmas tree announcing the beginning of the 33-year journey of one man that will change the world forever!
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:8-14
On that night began the most intense thirty-three years of any lifespan of any person to have ever walked this planet. The next time we read of the Christ child, He is seven years old. His parents have traveled to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. This celebration is an annual tradition of celebration for God freeing the nation of Israel over 400 years of slavery from the brutal dictatorship of the Pharoah. This was a national pilgrimage centered in Jerusalem. Jews from all parts of the region would converge on Jerusalem. The Passover celebration happens every year during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. That's typically in March or April. In Israel, it lasts seven days.
Jesus’ parents journey to the Festival: Luke 2:41-49
These are the first words we read that Jesus spoke as a human boy. They are the only words we read of Him speaking until His ministry begins at the age of 30. Though His parents did not understand then, we do understand today - - Jesus is declaring a life of allegiance to honoring His Father; an allegiance that in just 26 short years will lead Him directly to the Cross to suffer the most excruciating and unimaginable of deaths known to man.
It is in the very next chapter of the book of Luke where we read that Jesus, now a fully grown man, is launching is earthly ministry. The book of Mark records that, after a time of temptation, the first thing Jesus does is assemble His team, His disciples:
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people. Mark 1:16-17
Do you notice something interesting with the calling of His first disciples? Jesus does not merely call them to follow Him. No! Jesus calls them to send them.
Look again at Mark 1:16-17: As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.
Jesus always calls to send. The call on my life to follow Jesus doesn’t end with “the follow.” The call on my life to follow Jesus is always accompanied with the command to then, “Go.”
Matthew 10:1-39
Wow! What we have just read here are the very words from our Savior. As Christ followers, each of us should consider this to be the mantra of our lives. The Savior of the world has given us a charge above all other passions, goals, decisions, and responsibilities to go to the nations and proclaim the very hope of which the world is in need! We are to leave all; abandon all; forsake all; deny all... and go to the nations!
There is no greater charge for our lives. There is no greater purpose. Our Savior has just given is quite the challenge to go to the nations... to the ends of the earth... to surrender all. Again, notice that the call is not only a life-surrender. It is a life surrender that is escorted by a call to go!
I remember when the girls were little, little girls, I would sing a song I wrote while rocking them at night: Bailey Faith is daddy’s little girl, One day you’ll go out into this great big world. When you are afraid and you don’t know what to do, Don’t you worry, dad will take care of you. I remember Amy and I used to pray for their salvation. We did this before they were even born. Once they both surrendered their hearts to Jesus, my prayer changed. I began praying, “God, thank you for having something big for them to do that will bring you glory.” This will always be my prayer for the girls.
However, this week, after praying through these thoughts I am sharing with you today, I too see from the teachings, specifically the callings of Jesus, I believe my prayer for Bailey and Brynnan needs to shift as I diligently pray that the girls will fulfill the “go” Jesus has called them to pursue. Of course, they can fulfill this in a million and one different ways... But this is the prayer we each should pray for our loved ones and for ourselves.
For as a follower of Christ, it is clear in Scripture that we each have this call on our lives to “Go!”
Matthew 10:5-8
Three times in these few verses we read the word Jesus Himself used to tell His followers to: “Go.” Over the course of the next three years, Jesus will make the declaration over and again to His followers… an imploration to this very day that is for you and me as well: To deny all, to exhale myself of any position other than complete allegiance to the Holy Father, and then to embrace a life fully surrendered and holy determined to “go” unto the nations.
There is not a single place in Scripture where we, as followers of Christ, are given the permission to remain as spectators. Not a single one.
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Acts 13:47
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:15-16
He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:15
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free. Luke 4:18
The prophet Isaiah spoke of this very responsibility you and I have to speak unto the nations of the love of Christ: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Isaiah 12:4
And the Psalmist wrote to challenge us as a people of God to go unto the nations: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Psalm 105:1
It is obvious again and again in Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, that the follower of Jesus is to live a life destined to “go” unto the nations and preach the good news.
Jesus called these followers over and again, and too we read this overarching message throughout the entirety of the Scriptures by not only Jesus, but too both those prophets who never knew Jesus and those followers of Him who continued to carry the light unto the nations after His resurrection.
Now… imagine all that these men had to process in the hours following the death of Jesus. They have spent three years with this man. They know of the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine. They watched as friends of a paralytic lowered this man into a room through a roof where Jesus was teaching. The man entered through a roof unable to walk. He exited through the door using his own two legs. Quite the exit indeed. These disciples who watched a spear be driven through the chest of Jesus while He was hanging on a tree at Golgotha, the place called The Skull, saw this same Jesus just a few months previous a mere 1.4 miles away where Jesus was killed, do the following:
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:2-8
There too was the feeding of five thousand, and Jesus walking on water, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the raising of Jairus’ daughter who had died, the raising of the widow’s son of Nain who too had died, and so very many more miraculous and unexplainable moments and encounters and events over the course of 36 very short months.
And by the way… should not these many stories of incomprehensible events that truly happened… should not they each amaze us, leave us in wonder, and render us each speechless? They should. I dare say, however, they often do not. Think of all the things that leave us in wonder... Like... why over and again and again do the Arkansas Razorbacks get so close... and then... they don’t! Dialing 10 digits on a $1500 iPhone and hearing the voice of someone who is halfway across the world in a matter of seconds... A 747 weighing on average 975,000 pounds carrying 300 passengers cruising at an altitude average of 38,000 feet in the air...Watching, as I did this morning, a soccer match more than 8,000 miles away on the Caicos Islands live on the other side of the world in real time on ESPN... These are such amazing things!
But when it comes to these true events that happened over 2,000 years ago of which we read in Scripture, these true events that are miraculous and wonderful and inexplainable, we tend to hear them... and leave them at church rather than allow them to inspire us, motivate us, and move us with a similar passion to go to the nations. And is this too not exactly what happened with the 12, or at a minimum, to the 11, after Judas betrays our Lord? These men did not merely read of such occasions. No! They were there! They saw the 12 baskets of bread and fish that remained. They watched as Jesus walked across the stormy waters late at night, reached down, and took the hand of Peter who was sinking. They witnessed first-hand the daughter of Jairus, and the widow’s son, and the best friend of Jesus, Lazarus, who each once were still and breathless, once again breathe, and talk, and laugh, and walk... and live! They saw all of this, yet, in the night and into the next morning of Jesus’ arrest, trial, conviction, and beating... they all disappeared.
And then… Jesus dies...
I spent some time this week... thinking about my sins. Have you participated in such an exercise as of late? Have I ever paused to intently focus on the reality that it was my sins, and it only took one of my sins, to justify the reason for which the Christ left heaven?
My sins are what brought about the silence of heaven and put into motion the reason for which Jesus left heaven.
What is unique about this particular quiet day in heaven, is the probability that it simultaneously was the loudest day in heaven. What do I mean? Well, think about it…The day the Christ died was too the same day He put an end to death - spiritual death. For in His death, all nations are now offered the opportunity to receive Him as Savior and to live for Him as Lord.
…who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. Galatians 1:4
It has been 33 years since Jesus left heaven and came to earth. Imagine the greeting when Jesus walks into the heavenly Jerusalem? The King has returned! And in doing so, He has brought with Him the ransom note for all of the nations. He has freed all – every tongue, every tribe, every person… every nation. This is how Jesus was able to say:
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
No one has done what Jesus did. No one could do what Jesus did. Jesus left 33 years previous entering the world as a baby. He has returned home with scars on His back, nail holes on His wrists and feet, thorn piercings on His brow, a scar on His side, and He holds in His very hands the hands of all of humanity.
Jesus says, “It is finished. I have overcome. I am the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. I am love. And I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
I imagine heaven erupts in laughter. The angels sing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” The heavens rejoice. The Savior is home.
And then… Jesus does… the unthinkable. Just as He once did…Jesus leaves all of heaven… and…Jesus returns to earth. For the second time, He leaves it all again... all of heaven’s beauty, the majesty, the streets of gold, the magnificence. He leaves it all. Now, yes, He must come back. The cross would have been nothing, would have meant nothing, had Jesus’ body lay forever in the tomb. All that Jesus had done would have meant nothing had He not returned, conquered sin and death, pointed His finger at Satan and reminded him:
“I was right you son of a gun! You lose. And not only am I coming back… you’re going to pay for all of this for eternity. And by the way Satan… the fire’s going to be really, really hot on your back!”
Matthew 28:1-10
How about that for a Sunday morning? I am sure those ladies never forgot that Sunday morning! We know that after this, Jesus continued to appear to His followers:
When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.
Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. They returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.
Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:9-15
Scripture tells us that Jesus appeared many times proving that He rose from the dead. Look at what Jesus said to His disciples one last time before His ascension into heaven. He tells them why He has returned:
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Luke 24:45-48
Do you see what Jesus tells them? I have returned so that you will be my witnesses and go “…to all nations!” Jesus had to return, but He did not have to stay as long as He did. So.. why did He? Yes, again…Jesus came back to conquer sin once and forever. He arose from the grave. He spit in the face of death. He crushed the serpent’s head. He left the tomb as it was before He died… empty. He then stayed and appeared and reappeared to offer proof of who He is, to offer hope of the heaven that awaits, and to instill confidence in His followers for what a life of allegiance to Him would soon demand.
This is why His final words before His ascension are so compelling to us as His followers. As One now with complete authority of His Father, Jesus said these words to His disciples then; to all disciples; to you as His disciple today:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20
How inspiring, and equally, how costly are these words? These men, upon hearing these words, did exactly this… they chose to “go” unto the nations. Peter would be later crucified upside down. Andrew, Peter’s brother, was beaten. He then, rather than nailed to a cross, was tied to a cross so that it would take him longer to die. Andrew hung on his cross for two days. While hanging there, he preached “Jesus saves” to those who passed by. James, the son of Zebedee, was later arrested for preaching unto the nations. Before being beheaded, he witnessed to his accuser. The accuser, so moved by these words, surrendered his life to Jesus and requested to be executed along with James. The two were beheaded. John was boiled alive. He survived and was exiled to the island of Patmos where it is believed he later died. Philip was scourged in Egypt and later crucified. Bartholomew was skinned while alive and then beheaded. Thomas was speared to death. Matthew was stabbed to death. James, son of Alphaeus, at the age of 94, was beaten and stoned to death. Thaddaeus was crucified at Edessa. Simon the Canaanite was crucified in England.
What a year of bible teaching this has been for us at Donelson First! We have studied so very much as to the Orthodoxy of truth and of Christ and His ways. We have too answered over 80 questions in our May I Ask A Question? series discussing a multitude of topics and issues and dilemmas over abortion, life, eternity, salvation, marriage, anger, gender, church management, parenting, and so very, very much more. We have taken quite the deep dive into the biblical theology and now, both individually and corporately as the Church, we are each faced with a question. I want to encourage you as we begin the final sprint to the end of 2023 to ask the Father to show you the answer to this very question:
Father, How am I to go unto the nations?
We are going to spend the next 4 weeks discussing exactly this. For soon, and very soon, that moment will appear, when for the final time, Jesus once again will leave heaven to return to us, this time to receive His bride, the Church. And it will be at that moment, when the sky splits, and this time heaven is to not be silent, instead:
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:31
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Matthew 24:36-41
Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen. Revelation 1:7
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Jeffrey Dean Smith is a husband, father to Bailey & Brynnan, author, and the Senior Pastor at Donelson First in Nashville, TN. If you are in Music City, meet Jeffrey and enjoy iced tea on the front lawn each Sunday at 10:30a.