When you are working on something and finish it, do you continue to work on it, or do you sit down when you are finished? You most likely said,” I sit down, of course!” Exactly! Jesus had work to do when He was here on earth. Today’s Bible Journaling Scripture says, “So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19 KJV) Jesus finished the work God, the Father, had tasked for Him to do and so He sat down!
Jesus had a job to do, and He did it. What was that job? God sent Jesus, His only Son, to earth to be the sacrificial lamb for our sins. But that wasn’t the only task He was to do. He spent three years on this earth, preaching, teaching, feeding the multitudes, casting out demons, raising the dead, and being the example for us of what a Born-Again Believer should look like. He allowed Himself to be taken prisoner, beaten, whipped, humiliated and hung on a cross to die. Jesus said, “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” (John 10:18 NLT) The Bible tells us that He arose, went to Hades, and took the keys of death and Hell from Satan. He conquered death, Hell, and the grave. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18 KJV)
Jesus could sit at the right hand of His Father because He had finished all the work that God had given for Him to do. There are no more sacrifices needed for the forgiveness of sins, Jesus paid the penalty of death for us. There is no need to be afraid of death, Jesus conquered it by raising from death to life. We no longer need to fear the grave because Jesus overcame the grave. We also have no fear of life after death, if we have asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior because He has paved the way for us to live with Him for all eternity!
Each Believer has also been given a job to do. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB 1995) We are to be witnesses to those around us of what God has done in our lives.
When we receive Jesus into our hearts, He cleans us from the inside out, changes us, and transforms us so that we are reflections of Him, so that His light shines out to those around us. Romans 12:2 tells us, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (NASB 1995) As we allow God to work in our lives, others see the change in us. That may cause them to notice and begin to ask us what has caused this change. That is when we can tell them what Jesus has done for us and invite them to also ask Jesus to be the Lord of their lives.
God has a pathway for each of us to travel. He has given us gifts to use so that we can accomplish what He has tasked us to do. When we have done all that He has asked of us, He will call us Home, then we can rest also.
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