Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Foretold Passion of the Son of Man: Humiliation, Divine Purpose, and Resurrection Victory (Matthew 20:17–19)

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The Foretold Passion of the Son of Man: Humiliation, Divine Purpose, and Resurrection Victory (Matthew 20:17–19) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking, a deep dive into the sovereign
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  truths of Scripture. Glad to be here for this one.
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  Yeah, so I want you to think about a chess grandmaster
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  sitting at a board during a massive championship match.
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  Or, you know, picture a legendary military general out
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  there surveying a battlefield and those kinds of scenarios.
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  You expect to see tactical preservation like you protect
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  the king at all costs, always. You keep your most vital assets
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  far away from the front lines, totally out of the line of fire.
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  Yeah, it's just basic strategy. Right.
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  So if a king marches willingly onto a battlefield completely
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  surrounded by enemy forces, and just walks straight into an
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  obvious heavily armed trap, observers would call that a
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  tragic miscalculation. Oh absolutely.
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  I mean, people would write history books about a fatal
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  blunder like that. Yeah, exact or wait, I mean spot
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  on. Because that kind of action goes
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  against, well, every single human instinct of self
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  preservation. We operate on the assumption
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  that if someone is captured, humiliated and executed, they
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  have lost the battle. The game is over.
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  You know an enemy is 1. But then you step into the world
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  of redemptive history and suddenly that whole strategic
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  rule book is thrown completely out the window.
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  It really is. Today, we are looking at a
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  historical and theological landscape that turns our
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  conventional understanding of victory entirely upside down.
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  It's a total. Reverse.
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  We are going to unpack the moment the King of Kings
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  willingly, knowingly walk straight into the trap.
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  It is the absolute definition of a divine paradox.
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  Yeah, what looks to the human eye like a total defeat is,
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  well, it's actually the mechanism of the greatest
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  victory in the history of the cosmos.
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  I am so thrilled you're joining us today for this conversation.
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  Same here, it's a massive topic. It really is.
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  Our mission for today's Deep Dive is to look closely at 2
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  very heavy theological texts analyzing A brief but just
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  monumental passage in the Gospel of Matthew.
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  Right. Specifically, chapter 20, verses
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  17 through 19. Yes, we are going to understand
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  Christ's resolute March to the cross.
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  Because we have to see that this was not some tragic accident.
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  No, not at all. Jesus was not a victim of
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  political circumstances. Right.
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  Instead, this was the sovereign decree of God that secures our
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  justification. And that is the core issue for
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  you to keep in mind as we go through this material today.
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  We are analyzing this text strictly through the lens of
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  Reformed theology. Specifically adhering to the
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  framework laid out in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
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  Yeah, because we must view the cross cost not as some
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  hypothetical possibility or an improvised reaction to human
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  sin. Right, like God didn't have to
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  go to a backup plan. No, not at all.
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  It was a definite sovereign transaction, ordained from all
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  eternity. So to set the stage for you, we
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  are looking at a moment where Jesus is taking his 12 disciples
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  aside. He is predicting his betrayal,
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  his condemnation, his crucifixion and his
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  resurrection. And he does it with startling,
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  almost unsettling clarity. He really does.
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  But before we get into the brutal specifics of the
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  suffering, we have to establish the posture of the savior
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  heading into it. Because the road he takes
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  dictates how we understand the event itself.
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  Right, the text says he was going up to Jerusalem.
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  Now, geographically, travelers ascended to Jerusalem because of
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  its elevation. Yeah, it's a literal climb, but
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  our sources point out that there is a massive theological reality
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  happening here, too. Oh, definitely.
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  This is a purposeful ascent toward the Covenant City, the
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  absolute center of Israel's religious life.
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  Yes, the geographical climb from Jericho up to Jerusalem is
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  steep, and it's physically demanding.
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  It's not an easy walk. No, but the Greek text uses a
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  present active participle and of abandoned.
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  OK, so break that down for us. Well, it indicates a steady,
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  unswerving progress. Jerusalem is not just the next
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  stop on a casual preaching tour, right?
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  It is the city where prophets are historically rejected.
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  Yeah, it is the city where the Passover lambs are slaughtered
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  year after year. So he knows exactly what happens
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  there. He is advancing with deliberate
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  resolve toward the appointed place of his suffering.
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  The shadow of the cross is no longer on the distant horizon.
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  And falls directly across the dusty road right in front of
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  him. You know, one of the most
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  fascinating arguments in the reading was how they framed this
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  approach. The analogy they used, yeah.
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  It is like a rightful king who willingly walks directly into a
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  rebel stronghold. Right.
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  He is fully aware of the ambush waiting for him behind the city
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  gates. He is not a lost traveler
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  stumbling into a trap in the dark because he misread a map.
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  No, Jesus is not overtaken by fate.
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  He is orchestrating it. I mean, the courage of ignorance
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  is one thing. Charging into battle when you do
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  not know the odds. Right.
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  Anyone can be brave if they don't know the danger.
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  But this is the courage of perfect knowledge.
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  And that deliberate posture leads right into the pastoral
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  care we see in this passage. Yeah, the text says Jesus took
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  the 12 disciples aside privately on the way.
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  He doesn't just March forward in stoic silence, ignoring the men
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  following him. Right.
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  He acts as a tender shepherd. He knows the events waiting in
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  Jerusalem will shake these 12 men to their absolute core.
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  Because their assumptions about the Kingdom of God are still
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  incredibly confused. Completely.
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  They expect visible triumph, immediate glory and, you know,
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  political liberation from Rome. So before the storm breaks, he
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  prepares his chosen witnesses. And here is where the specific
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  setting becomes so crucial. He does this on the way.
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  Right, This is not a detached classroom setting where they're
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  sitting at desks taking notes. The road itself interprets the
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  teaching. You can just picture them
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  walking that steep path, the elevation rising, the physical
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  strain increasing. And the tension building with
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  every single step. Yeah, and we have to look at the
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  literary context here. Because Matthew places this
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  prediction in a very specific, specific, almost shocking spot.
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  He does. It sits directly between the
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  parable of the laborers in the vineyard and the request of the
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  mother of the sons of Zebedee. That specific placement in the
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  text is absolutely critical for you to grasp.
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  The parable of the laborers, which comes right before this,
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  highlights sovereign, unmerited grace.
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  Right. In that parable, God gives to
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  the last worker the exact same wage as the first worker.
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  Demonstrating that salvation is entirely of his sovereign will
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  and not based on human merit. And then immediately after
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  Christ's solemn prediction of his own torture and death.
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  The mother of James and John comes up.
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  Yeah, and she asks for her sons to sit at his right and left
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  hands in his Kingdom. That request represents pure,
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  carnal, self-serving human ambition.
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  I honestly have to stop and point out how jarring this
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  contrast is. That's why.
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  Isn't it? It is Jesus is literally pouring
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  his heart out, talking about his imminent self humiliation, his
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  mock trial and his execution. And while he is speaking about
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  dying a criminal's death, his followers are arguing about who
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  gets the best Thrones in the administration.
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  It is incredibly tone deaf. Totally.
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  So how does the source material use this literary placement to
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  expose our natural inclination toward a theology of glory
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  rather than a theology of the cross?
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  Well, the sources argue that this exposes our complete
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  natural inability to understand divine things apart from God's
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  grace. OK, unpack that a bit.
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  Fallen human expectation always separates what God joins
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  together, right? We want royal dignity without
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  public shame. We want triumph without
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  suffering. So the disciples are clinging
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  tightly to a theology of glory. Yes, they want the shiny crown,
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  but they despise the bloody cross.
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  And the human author Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
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  places this prophecy right between a discourse on grace and
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  a display of human ambition. To show that the disciples are
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  totally blind to the necessity of a substitute.
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  They need the very sacrifice they're trying so hard to
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  ignore. Exactly.
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  Or I mean spot on. So, having established his
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  deliberate approach and the absolute blindness of his
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  followers, we now need to look at how Jesus identifies himself.
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  And the divine mechanics behind the betrayal, he predicts.
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  Right, he uses a very specific title for himself here, the Son
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  of Man. That title is drawn directly
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  from the Old Testament, specifically Daniel Chapter 7.
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  OK, tell us about that vision. In Daniel's vision, the Son of
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  Man is a figure of cosmic dominion and majesty.
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  This figure comes on the clouds of heaven and receives a Kingdom
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  from the Ancient of Days. It is a title of absolute
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  eschatological triumph. Every Jewish person in the 1st
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  would associate that title with unstoppable victory.
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  But Jesus shockingly pairs this triumphant title with the
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  profile of the suffering servant.
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  The one found in Isaiah chapter 53.
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  Right. He marries the kingly title of
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  Daniel to the destiny of the one who is crushed for our
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  iniquities in Isaiah. That is a massive paradigm shift
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  for anyone listening to. Him it really is.
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  You expect the Son of Man to call down fire from heaven and
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  obliterate his enemies? Not to be arrested and handed
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  over to them. And that specific phrase
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  delivered over brings us to a crucial linguistic point in our
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  sources. They spend a lot of time on the
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  grammar here. Yes, the Greek phrase used in
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  the text is peridotheacitai. It is a passive verb.
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  But the sources point out this isn't just a basic grammar
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  lesson. No, it is what theologians and
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  grammarians call a divine passive.
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  Meaning what? Practically well.
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  While Judas Iscariot, the religious elite and the Roman
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  soldiers are the physical instruments doing the arresting
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  and binding on Earth. The grammar points to God the
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  Father as the primary actor behind the scenes.
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  Yes, the Father is the one delivering his son over for our
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  transgressions. I want to make sure we connect
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  the dots here, because this ties directly into Chapter 3 of the
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  Westminster Confession. The decree of God?
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  Yes, precisely. Chapter 3 of the Westminster
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  Confession states that God from all eternity did unchangeably
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  ordain whatsoever comes to pass. This delivering over of Jesus is
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  not a historical accident. It is not a failure of divine
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  planning where GOAT had to rush to a backup plan because the
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  religious leaders rejected Jesus, no.
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  It is the exact, meticulous outworking of God's eternal
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  decree and Providence. Christ is the sovereign subject
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  who is delivered over by divine decree for the redemption of His
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  elect. Now, if God is the one doing the
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  delivering, that completely shatters the modern idea that
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  Jesus was just waiting to see if humanity would accept him.
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  Right, our sources actually use this specific grammar and
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  theology to push back against some major theological errors.
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  They argue forcefully against Arminianism here.
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  Walk me through how the source material challenges the idea
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  that the Atonement relies on human free will.
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  Well, the sources outline that Arminianism posits a
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  hypothetical atonement. Meaning it's just a possibility.
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  Right. That system suggests Christ died
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  simply to make salvation a possibility, dependent on the
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  free will of the Sinner to accept it or reject it.
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  But the authors argue that this text in Matthew shows the cross
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  as a definite, particular and sovereign transaction.
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  The father delivers the son, and the son actively obeys to
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  actually purchase the elect. Not just to make them salvable.
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  Right. The success of the cross does
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  not rely on human approval or human choice.
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  It accomplishes precisely what the father decreed it would
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  accomplish. The sources also take aim at
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  liberal critical scholarship. You know, the academic view that
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  reads these highly specific predictions of the flogging and
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  crucifixion and claims Jesus could not possibly have known
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  those details in advance. Yeah, the academics argue these
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  verses must have been written decades later by the early
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  church. And put into the mouth of Jesus
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  after the fact. The academic term they use is
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  vatisinium ex eventu. Which basically translates to
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  prophecy after the event. The authors of our sources are
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  adamant that this liberal view must be rejected entirely.
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  Why are they so firm on that? Because they argue that to deny
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  his predictive foresight is to deny his deity and to deny the
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  inspiration of scripture altogether.
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  Jesus is acting in his office as a prophet in this moment,
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  infallibly declaring the specifics of his coming
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  humiliation. The sources point out that if
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  you remove his divine omniscience, you strip away the
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  authority of the Savior. He is not guessing about his
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  fate. He's declaring the blueprint of
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  redemption. OK, I understand the sources
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  argument there, but I need to stop you and raise a crucial
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  intellectual tension for the listener.
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  Let's hear it. I can hear people asking this
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  question right now. OK, if God the Father decreed
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  this from all eternity, if this is a divine passive and God
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  ordained whatsoever comes to pass, right down to the
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  betrayal, yeah. How do we hold the human
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  betrayers morally responsible? That's a huge question.
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  Right, Judas, the chief priests, Pontius Pilate.
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  Are they just puppets reading lines from a script they didn't
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  write? How does the source material
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  reconcile God's script with human choice?
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  That tension brings us to the mystery of compatibilism.
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  The sources explained that Scripture presents a dual
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  reality, and it does so without any embarrassment or attempt to
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  soften the blow. Compatibilism teaches that God's
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  absolute sovereignty and human moral responsibility are
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  completely compatible and exist simultaneously.
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  So the human actions of betrayal and murder arise from genuine
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  malice, envy and unbelief within the human heart.
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  The chief priests act out of intense jealousy.
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  Pilot acts out of political cowardice to prevent a.
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  Riot and Judas acts out of greed.
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  So you're saying they aren't being forced to sin against
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  their will? Spot on.
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  They are not coerced. God is not forcing them to do
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  something they hate. They act according to their own
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  wicked desires. Which makes them fully,
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  completely morally responsible for their actions.
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  Yet at the exact same time, God sovereignly governs these sinful
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  choices to accomplish the highest good in human history.
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  The sources highlight that what men intend for pure malice, God
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  ordains as the perfect atonement.
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  God permits and directs the worst evil imaginable to
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  accomplish the greatest mercy conceivable.
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  That is a staggering reality to process.
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  It really is. Because God decreed the cross,
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  looking at the specific human instruments who carried out
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  reveals the true, unvarnished state of the human heart.
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  Let's transition into the anatomy of that depravity.
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  Jesus lays out a very specific sequence of events in his
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  prophecy. He says he will be delivered to
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  the chief priests and scribes and then subsequently delivered
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  to the Gentiles. We must breakdown the
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  theological weight of that specific sequence because the
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  authors spend considerable time on it.
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  The chief priests and scribes represent the highest echelons
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  of the religious establishment. They are the guardians of the
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  Covenant. The men entrusted with the Law
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  of Moses, the Prophets, and the Temple.
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  Worship. They, of all people on earth,
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  should have recognized their Messiah when he walked into
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  Jerusalem. The sources argue that their
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  apostasy approves a terrifying point.
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  Which is. External religion offers zero
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  protection against inward corruption.
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  Wow, yeah. When religious privilege is
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  joined to unbelief, it becomes a particularly grievous, hardened
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  form of guilt. It's like the cross is a brutal
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  high definition mirror held up to the face of humanity.
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  Right. We often like to think that if
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  God showed up in person, we would throw a parade for Him.
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  But when perfect Incarnate holiness actually appeared in
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  the flesh, the religious world did not crown.
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  Him. No.
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  They conspired in the dark to execute him.
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  And it is not just the religious leaders.
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  Jesus specifically says he will be handed over to the Gentiles.
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  The sources highlight that the inclusion of the Gentiles means
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  the entire world is universally indicted in this act.
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  This is the Reformed doctrine of total depravity in action.
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  You have the religious covenantal sphere of Israel on
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  one side. And the secular Pagan civil
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  authority of the Roman Empire on the other.
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  And they are conspiring together.
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  Jew and Gentile alike are fully implicated.
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  Mankind, at its truest and darkest point, uniformly opposes
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  the living God. And Jesus does not gloss over
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  the physical realities of what this united opposition will do
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  to him. No, he lives specific horrifying
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  indignities. He says he will be mocked,
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  flogged and crucified. He knows the exact Roman method
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  of execution waiting for him at the end of the road.
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  The Greco Roman historical context of those specific terms
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  is chilling. To be flogged.
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  The Greek word is mastigosai and crucified starocyte.
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  These were not generic punishments.
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  The sources detail how these were the most extreme degrading
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  legal punishments available in the ancient world.
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  They were strictly reserved for the lowest classes of society.
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  For runaway slaves and for violent political rebels.
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  Roman citizens were actually legally exempt from crucifixion
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  because it was considered too degrading.
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  And beyond the Roman shame, crucifixion specifically was
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  deemed A literal curse under the Mosaic Law.
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  The book of Deuteronomy clearly states cursed is everyone who is
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  hanged on a tree. The Messiah stepping into a
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  reality where he is publicly displayed as a curse by God and
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  rejected by man. You know, I'm looking at how the
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  sources bring up the Roman Catholic Mass in this section,
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  and honestly, at first glance someone might not see the
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  connection to the historical flogging and crucifixion.
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  Right, it seems like a leap. So walk me through how the
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  authors bridge that gap. How does the historical
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  specificity of this execution refute the doctrine of the mass?
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  Well, the authors build their argument by looking at the
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  definitive nature of these physical acts.
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  OK, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Mass teaches that the
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  Eucharist is a perpetual, unbloody sacrifice of Christ
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  offered continuously on the altar for sins.
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  Right? But our sources, aligning
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  heavily with the theology in the book of Hebrews, argue that
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  Christ was crucified once in history.
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  At a specific geographic location.
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  At a specific point in time to completely satisfy divine
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  justice, the. Blood was shed once.
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  The mockery, the flogging and the crucifixion were a once for
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  all historical reality. So the authors assert that this
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  completely refutes the concept of a repeating unbloody
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  sacrifice. The debt was paid in full on
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  that Friday. There is nothing left to offer.
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  That is a brilliant distinction. It grounds our theology in
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  historical reality. Yes it does.
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  And if I can add another angle from our sources, they argue
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  that this section absolutely dismantles the modern prosperity
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  gospel and the seeker sensitive movements we see today.
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  Oh definitely, we encounter this all the time.
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  Yeah, a modern theology of glory that promises health, wealth and
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  immediate earthly comfort if you just have enough faith.
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  But the authors make a piercing observation.
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  What's that? If the master was mocked,
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  flogged and crucified, the servant has absolutely 0 right
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  to demand a life of immediate luxury or earthly applause.
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  Jesus did not lead his disciples to a comfortable palace in
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  Jericho. He led them to an agonizing
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  cross in Jerusalem. That is precisely the rhetorical
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  question the authors ask Shall the master be flogged while the
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  servant demands a life of luxury?
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  The degradation Jesus predicts is cumulative.
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  First he is mocked, stripping away his dignity.
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  Then he is flogged, stripping away his physical health and
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  flesh. Finally, he is crucified,
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  stripping away his life. Jesus highlights the exact
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  nature of the curse He must bear to remedy our sin.
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  And in doing so, he sets the pattern for Christian suffering
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  in a fallen world. The degradation, the physical
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  agony and the immense shame are not the end of the narrative.
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  No. The prediction carries a final
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  clause that fundamentally alters everything that preceded it.
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  Jesus says, and on the third day he will be raised.
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  The story does not end in a borrowed grave.
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  It ends in absolute vindication. But I want to ask you, why does
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  Jesus specify the third day? Why not simply say he will rise
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  eventually or in the end when God gets around to it?
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  Yeah, exactly, because precision shows God's strict timetable.
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  Jesus speaks with absolute solid confidence here.
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  The authors note that while the enemies of Christ act fiercely
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  and do their absolute worst, they are never sovereign over
• 20:08
  the timeline. The duration of the suffering is
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  strictly limited. The grave is temporary and has
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  an expiration date. Even in the darkest hour of
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  human history, the Father has fixed the exact day of triumph.
• 20:20
  God governs both the agonizing suffering and the glorious
• 20:24
  deliverance of His Son. This precise mechanism of
• 20:27
  salvation connects heavily to Chapter 11 of the Westminster
• 20:30
  Confession regarding justification.
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  Our sources bring up the concepts of the active and
• 20:37
  passive obedience of Christ. Let's unpack those terms for the
• 20:40
  listener because they are so critical to reform thought.
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  I like to think of it using a financial analogy.
• 20:46
  Please share the analogy. Financial metaphors often help
• 20:49
  clarify the mechanics of imputation.
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  Imagine you were standing before a judge and you have a multi
• 20:55
  billion dollar debt of criminal fines that you could never pay
• 20:59
  in 1000 lifetimes. OK, passive obedience is like
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  someone stepping in and hanging off that massive of debt
• 21:04
  completely. The penalty is paid and your
• 21:07
  balance is 0. You are no longer going to
• 21:09
  prison. But a 0 balance doesn't make you
• 21:11
  rich, it just makes you not in debt.
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  Right. Active obedience is like that
• 21:15
  same person then depositing $10 billion of pristine, legally
• 21:19
  earned wealth into your account. Now you aren't just out of debt,
• 21:22
  you are infinitely wealthy in the eyes of the court.
• 21:25
  The sources argue you need both the debt cancelled and the
• 21:29
  wealth deposited. So how does Christ accomplish
• 21:31
  both? Well, that analogy perfectly
• 21:34
  captures the Reformed view of justification.
• 21:36
  Justification requires a perfect righteousness to be imputed or
• 21:40
  credited to the believers account.
• 21:42
  Christ demonstrated his active obedience by setting his face
• 21:47
  toward Jerusalem and perfectly fulfilling the rigorous demands
• 21:51
  of God's law throughout his entire earthly.
• 21:54
  Life. He earned the flawless
• 21:56
  righteousness. And he demonstrated his passive
• 21:58
  obedience by willingly receiving the mockery, the flogging, the
• 22:02
  crucifixion, and the unmitigated wrath of God on the cross.
• 22:05
  To pay the penalty for our sin, he cleared the debt.
• 22:08
  So in that framework, the resurrection on the third day is
• 22:12
  the Father's public, undeniable declaration that the sacrifice
• 22:15
  actually worked. Yes.
• 22:17
  The resurrection declares loudly that the sacrifice was perfectly
• 22:19
  effectual. The Staggering Dead is canceled.
• 22:22
  The work of redemption did not miscarry.
• 22:24
  Because Christ entirely satisfied divine justice through
• 22:28
  his suffering, his perfect, flawless righteousness can now
• 22:32
  be imputed to the elect. The authors stress that if
• 22:35
  Christ is raised, sin has been decisively dealt with.
• 22:39
  And the believer salvation stands eternally secure.
• 22:42
  One of the most striking points our sources make is about
• 22:45
  achieving victory through suffering rather than bypassing
• 22:48
  it. The resurrection proves that
• 22:49
  death is not a detour away from glory, it is the appointed Rd.
• 22:53
  into it. Christ conquers not by avoiding
• 22:56
  death, but by entering the belly of the beast and breaking death
• 23:00
  from the inside out. He wins the war not by calling
• 23:03
  angels to bring him down from the cross, but by rising from
• 23:06
  the tomb three days later. That perspective changes the
• 23:09
  entire meaning of the passion narrative.
• 23:12
  What looked to the Romans and the chief priests like the
• 23:14
  ultimate triumph of Christ enemies becomes the exact moment
• 23:18
  their power is decisively, permanently broken.
• 23:20
  Having scaled the massive heights of this theology, it is
• 23:23
  time to ground it in your daily reality.
• 23:26
  What does this mean for you, the listener tomorrow morning?
• 23:28
  Our sources bring in what theologians call the third use
• 23:31
  of the law from Westminster Confession Chapter 19.
• 23:35
  I want to spend some time here because this is where theology
• 23:37
  meets real life. The reformers identified 3 uses
• 23:41
  of the moral law. The first restrains civic evil.
• 23:44
  The second drives sinners to Christ by exposing their guilt.
• 23:48
  But the third use of the law teaches that while the law
• 23:51
  cannot save us or justify us, it functions to guide the justified
• 23:55
  believer in grateful obedience. Because your salvation is
• 23:59
  entirely accomplished by the sovereign sufferer, your
• 24:01
  obedience is the fruit of your standing before God, not the
• 24:04
  root of it. You do not obey to earn your
• 24:07
  salvation. You obey out of gratitude
• 24:09
  because you are already saved by a sovereign grace you did not
• 24:12
  deserve. And practically, that means your
• 24:14
  discipleship must be cruciformed.
• 24:15
  It must be shaped like a. The sources argue that the
• 24:19
  church today has to vigorously reject celebrity religion, self
• 24:22
  promotion and corporate pragmatism.
• 24:24
  The way of the Kingdom is not self exaltation or building a
• 24:27
  personal brand. It is taking up a cross and
• 24:30
  following a savior who was mocked and flogged.
• 24:33
  Furthermore, the authors point out that this theology provides
• 24:36
  massive tangible comfort for you in seasons of trial.
• 24:40
  Because Christ's brutal suffering was meticulously
• 24:42
  governed by divine wisdom, your personal suffering is also never
• 24:47
  pointless. You're not suffering under blind
• 24:49
  fate, random chance, or bad luck.
• 24:52
  The exact same Lord who brought resurrection out of a Roman
• 24:56
  crucifixion is actively governing your trials.
• 24:59
  This doctrine teaches you to trust the heart of God even when
• 25:03
  you cannot fully trace His hand in your circumstances.
• 25:06
  That is a phenomenal comfort. It changes how you view a
• 25:08
  hospital waiting room, a job loss or a season of grief.
• 25:12
  To close our deep dive today, I want to leave you with a final
• 25:15
  eschatological thought drawn straight from our sources.
• 25:18
  We have just spent this time examining the literal,
• 25:21
  infallible fulfillment of Christ's prophecy regarding His
• 25:24
  Passion. Every single terrifying detail,
• 25:27
  the betrayal to the priests, the handing over to the Gentiles,
• 25:30
  the flogging, the cross and the resurrection on the third day
• 25:33
  came to pass precisely as he said it would.
• 25:35
  The sources argue that this literal fulfillment in the past
• 25:39
  acts as an unbreakable seal, ensuring the certainty of his
• 25:43
  future promises. As believers holding a
• 25:45
  premillennial and pre tribulational hope, we look at
• 25:48
  the empty tomb and realize we are no longer waiting for a
• 25:52
  grave. We are waiting for a trumpet.
• 25:54
  The Christ who once wore a crown of thorns will soon return
• 25:59
  wearing the crowns of universal sovereignty.
• 26:01
  He is the true prophet who spoke infallible truth on the road to
• 26:05
  Jerusalem. The high priest who became the
• 26:07
  bloody sacrifice on the cross. And the sovereign king who
• 26:10
  triumphs over the grave. So think back to that chess
• 26:13
  Grand Master we talked about at the beginning.
• 26:15
  The sacrifice of the peace was not a blunder at all.
• 26:17
  It was the exact calculated mechanism of victory.
• 26:21
  The Enemy thought they had won the match, but the Sovereign
• 26:24
  Sufferer had already secured the checkmate before the board was
• 26:27
  even set. Thank you for joining us on
• 26:29
  Reformed Thinking. Keep your eyes on the coming
• 26:31
  King.