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Mandatory
Nine Count
By
Pastor Jack Hayford
I can't number
the times I have wished God would hurry up...with an answer to my
prayer...with a bailout in the middle of my muddle...with a fresh
sense of His working in my life.
But there is
one well-established principle in the Scriptures, and it is dramatically
demonstrated in Jesus' experience.
You can't rush
a resurrection.
Matthew's Gospel
records no less than three times that Jesus clearly prophesied that
He would be killed by His adversaries and that He would rise again
(16:21, 17:23, 20:19). He not only stated precisely that it would
be the third day, but He predicted His resurrection upon an Old
Testament type: the third-day deliverance of Jonah from the belly
of the great fish. (Matthew 12:40)
These advance
notices of His resurrection are forceful arguments for Jesus' sense
of purpose and power. They also offer a valuable lesson for you
and me. If I am walking in the simple path of God's will for me,
I can never be conquered by anything.
I may be down, but I'm not out. He will get me up again, and He
says when it will be...on the count of three.
Have you ever
seen boxers, flattened by their opponents, try to scramble to their
feet too quickly? Rather than taking the nine-count, using the time
to recover their equilibrium, they attempt a quick bounce-back.
It's almost as though they're trying to convince themselves, the
crowd, and their opponent that they weren't really
hurt. Somehow, a downed boxer's identity seems wrapped
in his ability to show a "can't hurt me" facade, when,
in fact, his hurried rising--I've seen it often--leaves him wobbling,
staggering, and open prey for a quick kill at the hand of his competitor.
Consider with
me, friend: If Jesus could have called for angels to spare Him the
suffering of the Cross (Matthew 26:53), don't you know that He could
have called for an early deliverance from death? The message of
His submission to the Father's timing as well as the Father's plan
is profound in it application to your life and mine.
Don't attempt
a humanly energized "bounce-back" from those circumstantial
"knock-downs" you encounter. God has His own kind of "mandatory
nine-count": it's a third-day rising for everyone who will
wait for His moment of miracle deliverance.
"Easy
to say, Pastor Jack, but I've waited longer than three days, or
three weeks, or three months...in fact, more than three years. What
about my resurrection?
I hear you.
And I know the pain often wrapped in that kind of inquiry. But the
answer is in a return question: "Have you entrusted everything
concerning your case to Jesus?" If you have, then the entire
matter is sealed and delivered...in His resurrection.
The message
is this: As surely as Jesus rose on time, your triumph will be on
schedule also. Lazarus' schedule probably seemed a day late to him,
too. |
Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233