Is your heart aroused like David’s was by the thoughts of God toward you? This meditation should be taken further. In part 2 of this series we saw that verses 8-11 of Psalm 16 are applied to the Lord Jesus in Acts 2:25-28. Peter says, “David says about him [Jesus]…”
Is it not striking that even though Jesus, from early on in His ministry, described the implications of His ministry to his disciples, he could still say these words and have this confidence. Like the people in Hebrews 11 we were looking at, Jesus, as a man, had to power to press forward in heroic earnestness, in spite of the horrors that lay ahead of him. He said to His disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34 NIV) Notice that even before He said this, the disciples were astonished and those who followed him, afraid (verse 32). He knew the terror into which He was free-falling and jumped willingly.
Beyond the torments of the Son of God being restricted to a human frame, His temptation in the desert and the years of staring into the tearing wrath of God He would endure, He could say that His Father was His refuge (Psalm 16:1). Though He was pressed to the point of desperation on His mission where He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears (Hebrews 5:7), He could still say, “You will not abandon me to the grave.” (Psalm 16:10). The relationship here is so personal and intentional. Jesus is trusting in the kind intentions toward Him in the heart of the Father. The intention in the heart of God toward His dear son is so inflated with adoration and infinite affection that the heaven and earth could disappear before His dear Son could suffer any harm beyond what is absolutely necessary.
An outstanding preacher once made an excellent point. He spoke of Jesus being abandoned to the Gentiles and how horrific that was for Him. He described an appointment at the dentist and how fearful we get even when we know the dentist is a trained expert. He will not go beyond what is professionally acceptable to get the job done. It is precision. Yet Jesus was not abandoning Himself to trained professionals with a code of ethics. He was abandoning His flesh to a mob of barbarians who hated Him and wanted to hurt Him as much as possible. They wanted Him to suffer and bleed and die in the worst imaginable way. There was no restraint. Yet He submitted Himself to their hands because ultimately He knew that the hand of restraint was the hand of His dear Father. Regardless of the cruel intentions toward Him in the hearts of this barbaric horde, the intentions in His Father’s heart were wonderful and glorious. He had His jealous eye on His dear Son and not a finger would be laid upon Him that should not. Not a bone would be broken. The Father carefully restricted the cruel hands that beat Him to the point where He would suffer exactly what the Father knew was necessary, no more. Therefore Jesus had confidence in His dear Father.
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