JESUS NEARING JERUSALEM.pdf

BY J. R. MILLER Read Matthew XX.. 17-34 !Jesus was setting out for Jerusalem on His last journey. Did He not know that He was going straight into danger? He was safe in Perea; why did He not stay there? Why did He leave this shelter and go straight into the den of lions at Jerusalem? He knew all that awaited Him, but He did not shrink from it; He resolutely set His face to go, because it was the way marked out for Him. The picture shows Him hastening on, strid- ing away before the disciples, as Mark tells us, as if He were eager to reach the city and endure what lay before Him there, and could scarcely wait for the slow steps of the disciples. Why was Jesus so eager to suffer? It was because His time had come and He was eager to do the Father's will. Besides, it was the receiving up to heaven which! He saw, and the cross and darkness were forgotten in the triumph and glory beyond. "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, de- spising the shame."