Dear Friend of Mary Craig Ministries,
Sometimes
God is just too small in our minds, or we just can’t get past the circumstances of the day. We need to catch the
vision. We can become complacent, compromising, and even corrupt if we miss it. We are to write the vision and
make it plain that he may run who reads it. At the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. The just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2.2-4)
God purposed in Himself according
to His good pleasure, according to the counsel of His own will, to redeem through His blood and gather together
in one all things in Christ to the praise of His glory. And so, with this vision in mind, God Incarnate, Jesus
Christ, invaded human history.
1. Vision framed His mission. It
ordered His purpose. Sent by the Father (Source and Sustainer of Life) in defense of life, to preserve and enhance
it, to uphold its sanctity, to fulfill all righteousness, Jesus surrendered to the Father’s will and voluntarily
obeyed.
2. Vision ordered His life. Jesus was moved by a divine compulsion. He knew He must
be lifted up. He needed to go through Samaria. He must
work the works of Him who sent Him while it was day.
3. Vision fueled His passion. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into
His glory?” (Luke 24.26) All things must be fulfilled as written in the Law and the Prophets and Psalms concerning
this Divine Messiah. He said, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead on the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24.46, 47 NKJ)
The Son of Man came to serve
and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20.28) This One whose name is called the Word of God (Rev. 19.13)
lived in perfect accord with the Scriptures. Even when He could have prayed to His Father for the provision of
angels to intervene in the plan to lay down His life, He responded, “How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled,
that it must happen thus?” (Matthew 26.54) All that was written must be accomplished in Him. For the things concerning
Him have an end, a purpose (Luke 22.37). “The son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be
crucified, and the third day rise again.” (Luke 24.7)
4. Vision forged His character. It is here we see the faith of Jesus Christ. His faith was tested through loss. Though God, as Son Jesus spoke as He
heard and did according to His Father’s will. Jesus submitted to Mary and Joseph in obedience to the Law. (Luke
2.49) He took the form of a servant, subjecting Himself under authority that He might through humility and humiliation
be exalted. (Philippians 2) He did nothing through His own initiative but voluntarily laid down His life.
After knowing the pleasure of
His Father, filled with the Holy Spirit, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil to misuse
power for personal gain, to sidestep the Cross and worship/serve the devil as the means to having the kingdoms
of this world, and to take His destiny into His own hands by putting God to the test. (Luke 4) Jesus remained sinless.
When Peter countered and challenged the vision and its plan, Jesus did not
shrink back from suffering or His true destiny as ordered by the Father. He rebuked Peter as a satan. (Matthew
18.22, 23; John 18.11) Jesus submitted to the plan and purpose of God and went His way, “as it is written.”
The vision was tested through false accusation. Jesus was accused of blasphemy, of
casting out demons by Beelzebub. Religious leaders sought to trap Him. Finally, He was found worthy of death in
the religious court, the civil court, and the people’s court. Jesus, the Innocent, suffered reviling, scourging,
and death by crucifixion.
Though the vision tarried, would He wait for it? Would it surely
come as the Lord of Glory learned obedience in the things which He suffered? (Habakkuk 2, Hebrews 5) Yes, though
Jesus’ soul passed into its darkest hour. There in the cocoon of death where only the Promise remains, Jesus held
to the Word kept by the power of God. On the third day, He rose again.
5. Vision overcame discouragement. It is through
faith and patience
that one inherits the promises. (Hebrews 6.12) Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before
Him. (Hebrews 12.2) He endured such hostility from sinners against Himself. He resisted weariness and discouragement
of soul. The religious leaders accused, the disciples didn’t always understand, the multitudes wanted the picnic
but not the Person, and the cost of discipleship proved too great for many. Jesus’ closest companions fell asleep
during the trial of Gethsemane, and worse, they fled when persecution came. Peter denied Christ. But Jesus held
to the vision.
6. Vision proved the sufficiency of grace when tested by weakness. Hebrews 4.15 says, “For we do not have
a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
(2 Corinthians 12.9) “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are
weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.” (2 Cor.13.4) With a hopeful fortitude
that bore up under the most difficult of circumstances, Jesus endured. He consistently did the will of God, constantly
persevered, and actively resisted weariness and defeat. (Hebrews 10.36) Through faith and patience He inherited
the promise.
7. Vision inspired His greatness. Today Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God Almighty. (Hebrews
12.2) His Name is exalted above every name. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of His Christ. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the Faithful Amen, the Lord of Glory.
Have you been given the vision
of God’s grace and love shining forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do
you need to enlarge your vision and move into the faith of Jesus? Do not despise the chastening of the Lord or
His rebuke. Serve God with reverence and fear. Endure by God’s grace. Remember Jesus and do not think those fiery
trials sent to try your faith are strange. Rather rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings
that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4.12, 13)
Running with the vision,
Mary
Craig
P.S. Go to www.marycraig.org for more. Order from our Catalog section using PayPal. Worship with us 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Grow and flourish in small group
ministry at Craighouse®, located in the Pompano Plaza at
114 E. McNab Road, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Visit www.craighouse.org for a map and more events and Bible studies. Reach MCM at 954-491-7270. Send in your
prayer requests.