10.09.22 - Mark 15:15-20

Open your Bibles to Mark 15:15-20.  •We’re continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark. •This morning we come to Mark’s account of the beating and mocking of our Lord by the soldiers. Abuse.  •That word conjures many different thoughts in different minds.  •And usually what we imagine is some lesser person on the receiving end of pain and mistreatment by a more powerful person.  •That’s generally how abuse works. There are exceptions, certainly. But usually a more powerful person abuses a less powerful person.  1. We think of spiritual abuse.  •Where a church member is hurt by a Pastor or some other leader.  •They are mentally abused. Made to believe falsehoods. Made to believe that the abuser has more authority than they have. And that God demands their submission to sinful, false, or overreaching commands of men.  2. Or we think of physical abuse.  •Where a stronger person physically harms the weaker.  •Husbands beating wives. Parents beating children. Bullies beating weaker children.  3. Or we think of sexual abuse.  •Where the stronger forces himself or herself on the weaker. (Whether physically or mentally weaker.) •Or where the older harms the younger.  There are other examples, but in all of these, the powerful one harms the less powerful.  •The greater hurts the lesser. This is usually the way of things with abuse.  But in our text this morning, we are going to see the King of kings suffering abuse.  •We will see the Son of God receiving abuse of all sorts from the VERY PEOPLE HE CREATED AND SUSTAINED AT THAT VERY MOMENT.  •We are going to see the Greater being abused by the lesser.  •We are going to witness the King receive a horrible, wicked, mock coronation.  •We are going to see the Lord of glory made lower than a peasant. Treated as the dregs of society.  And, in seeing the abuse that our King suffered, we will be reminded of some things: 1. What our sin deserves and how we should hate it.  2. How much our King loves His subjects.  3. The beauty and majesty of our King.  4. That after His suffering, our King will never suffer again, for He is Lord of all.  •May God bless us this morning as we meet Him at His Word.  If you would and are able, please stand with me for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.  Mark 15:15-20 [15] So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. [16] And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion.  [17] And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.  [18] And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”  [19] And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.  [20] And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (PRAY) Our Heavenly Father,  We thank you for the opportunity you’ve given us to sit under the ministry of your Word this morning.  It is a privilege to be among your People and to hear you speak to us through the Word you inspired by your Spirit.  But, Lord, we are weak. And just as we needed you to inspire your Word so that we could know you intimately, so also we need you to work in us so that we can understand and receive it to the benefit of our souls.  And so, we ask that you would open our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to savingly hear and believe what you have spoken.  By your Spirit working mightily in us through your Word, change us today as we behold Christ with the eye of faith.  Grant that we would leave here different than when we arrived because we came face to face with the Living God in His Word.  We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.  Amen.  1.) Before I get to pointing out some things for our meditation this morning, I want to walk through the text and show you how our Lord suffered.  •We begin in v15. There we read that Pilate had Jesus scourged.  •Before the trial was over, Jesus was scourged.  •And though the Gospel authors don’t spend a lot of time describing the physical suffering of our Lord, I think we would be in error to not spend a little time reflecting on it.  Jesus was “scourged.” •Scourging is sometimes called flogging. And in the Passion narrative, it refers to the same thing.  •It was a Roman beating. A horrible, horrible thing.  •Some who received Roman scourging actually died from the scourging itself.  •And those who lived through it were beaten nearly to death.  •It was so horrible that, according to Roman law, there were some classes within Roman society whose members could not be scourged.  It was a beating with a whip called a flagellum or flagrum. •This whip was short. It had a wooden handle. And attached to the handle were leather strips with pieces of bone, rocks, and sharpened metal knotted into them.  •The victim to be scourged was stripped naked (or nearly naked) and made to stretch his arms around a pillar or other large object, typically at a forward-leaning angle to expose the back.  •The hands were then bound tightly on the other side of the pillar so that the arms were pulled forward and the back stretched taut.  The victim was then whipped viciously.  •The whip with its pieces of bone, rocks, and sharpened metal would tear into the flesh and shred the victim to pieces from the back of the neck to the top of the legs.  •During scourging, the whip would often expose bone and even internal organs.  •Jewish law demanded that no more than 39 lashes be given. But the Romans had no such law.  •The soldiers were permitted to continue whipping until they wanted to quit or their commander told them to stop.  •Sometimes soldiers would whip the prisoner until they were exhausted and then another would take over and continue the scourging. •It wasn’t uncommon for victims to die from blood loss or shock.  The Romans were experts on cruelty.  •The soldiers were vicious men. They were as men possessed. They took delight in this.  •For them, it was a welcome break from the monotony of being a solider in Judea.  •And so they tore our Lord apart with their whips, nearly beating Him to death.  •They beat Him beyond recognition. As Isaiah said of the Messiah, “…His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind.” (Isaiah 52:14) •They beat Him until He did not look like a human being anymore. They scourged Him until He was a mess of flesh, bone, and blood bound to a pillar.  •And here we see the Lamb of God begin to shed His blood for sinners. For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.  But this was not enough for the soldiers.  •vv16-20 tell us that they mocked Him.  •V16 says that they led Jesus into the governor’s headquarters. Probably the courtyard of the palace.  •Mark writes, “And they called together the whole battalion.” •A battalion was made up of 600 soldiers. Apparently, every soldier who was not on duty at the time gathered together to watch the beating and mocking of the Lord.  •So here stands our Lord, naked and bloodied, before a crowd of hundreds who have gathered to make sport of Him.  •The soldiers loved to play games with criminals. Especially those who were considered enemies of the state. And Jesus has been called the King of the Jews.  •And so, they decide to give Him their own coronation.  They put a purple cloak on Him.  •This was probably an old, faded soldiers cloak. Red-violet in color. But it looked close enough to the color of royalty for their purposes.  •You see, ancient royalty decked themselves in splendid purple robes back then. So they’re dressing Jesus like a King of sorts.  And then they twist together a crown of thorns.  •These thorns, gathered from a common thorn bush in the region, could grow up to 12 inches long.  •No doubt, they had smaller thorns as well. But the long thorns were meant to imitate the long leaved wreaths that ancient kings would wear that represented the rays of the sun beaming from the head of the king.  •And they took the thorny crown and pushed it down onto the brow of our Lord.  •This was for pure meanness and pain. No doubt, blood rushed down the face of Jesus as the thorns tore into His head. And He was crowned by these wicked men.  Mark also tells us that they struck Jesus with a reed.  •This was basically a long stick. The parallel in Matthew 27 tells us that they put the reed in His hand as a mock scepter that a king would wield.  •And then they took it from His hands and began to beat Him repeatedly over the head. No doubt driving the thorns deeper into His flesh.  And they spat on Him.  •Ordinarily, when you greeted a king, you would customarily kiss the face of the king.  •But here they get near Him only to spit upon Him.  •This is shameful. The greatest sign of personal disrespect.  And they knelt down before Him in mock homage to Him, just as you would kneel before Caesar.  •And they saluted Him as king. Giving the Roman salute.  •And they cried out “Hail, King of the Jews!”  •This, again, was a mock. This is how they greeted Caesar: “Hail, Caesar!” •You can almost hear the laughter of the soldiers in the background.  And after they had their fun with Him, mocking His claim to be the King, “they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him.” •And then “they led Him out to crucify Him.” •They led Him out of the city. Outside the city gates.  •They did this according to the OT Law.  •You see, when someone was to be “cut off” (executed) because of their sin, they were to be taken outside of the camp and killed there.  •Our Lord Jesus was about to be “cut off” for sin outside of the city gates.  •But not for His sin. No. He had no sin. He was taken outside to be “cut off” for us and for our salvation.  All of this, brothers and sisters, all of this torture, all of this mockery, all of this ABUSE, He suffered for us.  •It’s hard to read and reflect on these things without shedding a tear and being stunned at the cruelty of wicked men.  •But at the same time, we cannot read these things without standing amazed at the goodness and loveliness of our Lord Jesus Christ. For He suffered for us.  And now, brothers and sisters, I want to point out some things to you from the text that will be of spiritual use to you: 2.) First, as we behold the suffering of Christ, we ought to be reminded of what our sin deserves.  •And I say that because the only reason that He underwent such suffering was FOR OUR SINS.  •His blood was shed for our sins. He was made sin for us. He became our Sin-Bearer. He was condemned in our place.  •All of this torture and mocking and shame was IN OUR PLACE.  •As Isaiah said, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” (53:4-6) •We see here in the suffering of Christ a PICTURE of what our sins deserve.  With the eye of faith, we see our Savior beaten and bloodied, mocked and ridiculed.  •Every lash that He suffered was an emblem of the stroke of divine justice that we deserve.  •Every mock leveled at Him is the derision and scorn from God that we deserved for our sin.  •Every hateful thing done to Him ought to have been done to us instead, who, in our sins, claim to be our own kings and attempt to usurp the place of God in the world.  •As one songwriter wrote, “It should’ve been me…facing the wrath of God. It should’ve been me, left to pay for my sin…” •Every stripe that our Lord suffered was due to us.  •Everything that we Him suffer here, we know should have fallen upon us. And do you see then how awful sin truly is? •See just part of the cost of our forgiveness in the wounds of Christ. •See how great the debt for sin truly is. That Jesus must suffer such horrors in order to accomplish our salvation.  •See how deep the stain of sin must be. That only the blood of Christ can take it away.  You know, you only really find out how awful a stain is whenever you try to remove it.  •Spill red wine on white carpet. And then try to clean it out. You’ll find out then how awful and deep the stain really is.  •In a much, much greater way, as we behold the suffering of Christ, we see how deep the stain of sin truly is.  •It is so deep within us, it is so wretched and disgusting, it is so black and corrupting and damning that only the blood of the Lamb of God can cleanse us from it.  •Oh, Christian, see how awful sin truly is. See what it took to accomplish your forgiveness: Nothing less than the blood of the Son of God! Oh, Christian, see what you deserve for your sin. And see the depth of sin.  •And seeing these things, HATE SIN! •See that it is worthy of hatred.  •God, the perfect Judge, hates it. God hates it so much that when Jesus became sin for us, God crushed Him in all these ways in our place.  •Truly, sin deserves to be detested. It deserves to have our deepest condemnation.  •As Charles Spurgeon said, “Nothing in the world more richly deserves to be despised, abhorred, and condemned than sin. It plucked a host of angels from their thrones in Heaven, drove our first parents out of Paradise, and brought on us unnumbered miseries.” How could we love sin any longer if we’ve seen Christ suffering for it? •How could we be at peace with any sin when we’ve seen our Lord receive lashes for it? •How could we willingly dip ourselves back into the black mire of sin when we see the cost of our cleansing? •Oh, Christian, hate sin.  And hate yourself in your sin.  •Why do I say that? Because Jesus didn’t suffer for sin in the abstract. He suffered for YOUR sin.  •It was YOUR SIN that brought this upon the Lord. It was for YOUR SIN that He bled.  •It was YOUR SIN that necessitated the suffering of the Lord that you now so dearly love.  •Christian, as your consider yourself in sin, you should hate yourself. You should abhor yourself for bringing this upon the Lord Jesus.  •If we had no sin, Christ would’ve never had to suffer.  •May God help us to see sin rightly! And seeing these things, brothers and sisters, and hating it, let us FORSAKE IT! •Surely, there is no sin that we would harbor that our Lord suffered so dearly for. •I’m not saying that we will not sin. We will. But surely the one who has seen Christ suffering in their place will not want to willfully hold on to known sin.  •That doesn’t make sense! It’s against all reason. It’s against all love for Christ.  •Christian, turn from sin each day as you remember how despicable it is and how Christ suffered for it.  And let this be a shield to us in the midst of temptation to sin.  •As you are tempted to sin, remember Christ tied to the pillar and beaten for sin. And then try to continue. If Christ’s suffering has gripped your heart, you’ll see the sin for what it is and RUN.  •Just as the Romans poured contempt upon Christ as He was made sin for us, may we also pour contempt on all our sin and hate it from the depths of our hearts.  NOTE: We often think that sin is a light thing, don’t we?  •I know that we don’t always view it rightly. If we did, we would never find it attractive.  •But we don’t take it seriously. And we often consider it a light thing.  •But let me ask you this: Was the suffering of Christ a light suffering? Was it a small thing? Was He struck with feathers? Was it “no big deal?” •Perish the thought! He suffered terribly for sin.  •So when you’re tempted to view sin lightly, remember the suffering of Jesus and see it rightly.  May God grant us that ever time we sin or are tempted to sin that we would see Christ beaten and bloodied for it.  •And may God help us to HATE IT and FORSAKE IT.  •Hear me: There is no more powerful argument against the temptation to sin than to behold Christ suffering for it.  •If that doesn’t make you at least begin to hate it (or want to hate it), then I fear you may not be converted.  3.) But as you see what your sin deserves, and as you see the blackness of sin, see also how Jesus loves you.  •Our text tells us that He bore the crown of thorns.  •There is something here that I fear most of us miss: Thorns are a symbol of the curse for sin.  •In the book of Genesis, after Adam sinned and brought sin and death into the world, God announced the curses of the broken Covenant of Works.  •And in Genesis 3:18 Adam was told concerning the ground, “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you…” •Thorns are directly mentioned as a result of the Fall.  •And here Jesus wears a crown of thorns.  •This is no coincidence.  The Roman soldiers unknowingly provided an emblem of Christ’s purpose in His suffering.  •Jesus was bearing the curse of man for sin.  •And He wore it on His head for all to see.  Dear sinner, see this: He bore your curse and mine! •He bore the curse of God’s wrath for us! •And Why? Why did He do this? •BECAUSE HE LOVES US! •That He would endure such agony and shame and scorn for you is proof that He loves you.  •That He would bear your curse and suffer the wrath of God on your behalf shows you that it is true.  •Hear me: JESUS LOVES YOU! Brothers and sisters, I will beat this drum until it breaks.  •It is all over the Passion narrative of Jesus.  •HE LOVES HIS PEOPLE.  •Don’t you ever, ever question it, Christian! •He loves you and proved it by suffering and dying to remove the curse for your sin so that you would know God, be forgiven, and go free.  •His design is to do you good. He loves you.  Now, I know that many of you are going through various difficulties and trials.  •And you may be wondering why the Lord is allowing it to happen. You wonder why He has brought this suffering upon you.  •Your pain is great. Your stress is great. And maybe you’re beginning to wonder why He is doing this to you. Why He won’t give you any rest right now.  •And maybe you wonder if He doesn’t love you and that’s why He’s allowing this to come upon you.  •Please, hear me: Don’t allow yourself to question whether or not He loves you.  •Put that thinking off, cast it away, and remember His crown of thorns. Remember that He bore the curse for your sins to save you and make you His own.  He really does love you.  •Remember His suffering in your place and that it was FOR YOU. Of course He loves you! •I’ll quote Spurgeon again at this point: “Remember that when Christ stood by the grave of Lazarus and wept, the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’ Now look at Him there among those Roman soldiers…and then let me say to you, ‘See how He loved us—you and me—and all His People!’” •He suffered and died to save us. Don’t ever doubt His love for you.  4.) Linked to His great love for us, I want to show you now the beauty and majesty of our King.  •As I said earlier, this whole scene is one of mockery. It is a mock coronation of the true King.  •The Jews mocked Hm for being the Prophet. Now the Romans mock Him for being the King.  But there is divine irony at work here. They mock. But everything they mock Him for is actually true.  •They give Him purple robes, a crown of thorns, a reed for a scepter, they spit on Him instead of kissing Him, they kneel down before Him, and they salute Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” •All of this is done in mockery and scorn. BUT IT IS ALL TRUE.  He is the true King. He is God’s chosen King, the Servant of the LORD, the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Savior, the King of the Kingdom of God.  •He is not just King of the Jews. He has been sent into the world to establish the worldwide Kingdom of God. He has come that He might reign over the Jews and the Gentiles one soul at a time.  •He does have royal robes. Robes of righteousness with which He clothes sinners who trust in Him, for He Himself is our righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30) •He does have a mighty scepter that is sent forth from Zion. And He will rule in the midst of His enemies as He conquers by grace. (Psalm 110:2) •He is deserving of kisses. And all the wise of the world will kiss the Son. (Psalm 2:12) •He does have a crown of authority and glory over all. For He is King of kings and Lord of lords. (Rev. 17:14) •He is deserving of all reverent praise and respect. For His Throne, as God, is forever and ever. (Hebrews 1:8) •And He has merited all men to bow down at His feet, for at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. (Phil. 2:10) •In all their mockery, they are actually declaring His true identity: That He is the King.  And, the soldiers were also unknowingly fulfilling prophecy concerning God’s King, the Messiah: •Isaiah 50:6 says, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” •The prophet foretold that God’s true King would be horribly mistreated and suffer greatly.  •This seems to be a contradiction, doesn’t it?    That a KING would suffer disgrace.  •That doesn’t make sense in the world. Kings don’t suffer.  •But this is where we see that the true King is different from the others.  •This King came “not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Do you see our King in His majesty here? •Some would say, “Where? Here is only blood, spit, mockery, and sorrow. Where is the glory? Where is the majesty?” •Yes, there is blood, spit, mockery, and sorrow. But the King’s majesty is connected right to it.  •His majesty is that He endured this for you.  •This is the glory of the King: That He would endure such shame for shameful sinners.  •His glory is that the Sovereign of all would be abused and die for the unworthy worm.  Behold your King! •Bloodied and beaten for you! His body broken and His blood shed for you.  •What a wonder! What glory! What love! What majesty! •There has never been a King like this.  •This King protects and saves His People from certain destruction by bearing the destruction they so richly deserve for their sins AGAINST THE KING HIMSELF.  •This is the Greatest King! This is the most beautiful One, the most gracious One, the most glorious One! •He loves His subjects! •See His greatness revealed: That He, being so great, would make Himself so low for sinners.  Brothers and sisters, if we consider the suffering of Jesus by itself, He is pitiable.  •And this whole passage simply makes us sad for Him and weep for His misery.  •BUT when we consider the PURPOSE OF HIS SUFFERING, we are compelled to rejoice and behold the King in all His beauty.  His suffering is what we glory in. For His suffering is our salvation.  •We glory in a bloody and crucified King. For His death is our life. By His wounds we are healed.  •And by His blood, He brings us into His Kingdom.  5.) But, brothers and sisters, let me remind you that this King would not remain low forever.  •His mock coronation was His path to His true coronation.  •He would receive no crown without the Cross.  •His purpose for coming into the world was to save sinners by dying for them.  •But His suffering and death would not be the end for Him. No. Not by a long shot.  He would rise. He would rise glorified. Never to die again.  •On the third day, He rose from the dead. And was declared to be the Son of God in power, by the Holy Spirit as He was raised.  •His resurrection proved that He is the King and that His death was effective to save sinners.  And after His resurrection, He ascended to Heaven to be enthroned as the King of all.  •He ascended to Heaven to begin His reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.  •He ascended to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of God and begin His work of taking dominion in the whole earth, one soul at a time, as the Son of Man.  Brothers and sisters, let’s praise the Lord Jesus together as we read about His true coronation from various portions of Scripture: Daniel 7:13-14 says of Christ,  “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Speaking of Christ, Ephesians 1:20-22 says that God “seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as Head over all things to the church…” Psalm 2:8-9 records God the Father speaking to God the Son after His resurrection and ascension, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Finally, Hebrews 10:12-13 says of Christ, ”But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet.” Brothers and sisters, the King suffered. And He suffered greatly.  •But His suffering and death was but a prelude to His glory.  •He rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven where He is now reigning over all things as the KING.  •And He is putting all things under His nail-pierced feet.  •He suffered. But, praise God, He will never suffer again. He was raised in glory to reign!  •And so, instead of the mocking cry of “Hail, King of the Jews” we ought to cry out with reverent tongues, “Hail, King of the world!” •This world is His. For He is the King.  6.) Brothers and sisters, I hope you can see that this scene in Mark’s Gospel is actually a preview of things to come.  •The soldiers bowed down in mockery. But one day all will bow before the King.  •Philippians 2:5-11 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The King made Himself low. •And He lowered Himself to mount the Cross.  •And the result of His humiliation is His exaltation.  •He lowered Himself into the grave as a nobody. But He has been raised higher than all so that every man, woman, and child, every demon, and every angel, will one day bow the knee before Him and declare that He is Lord.  •Everyone will declare that Jesus is King.  •God has declared it. And so it shall be.  •Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  King Jesus is daily mocked by the scoffer.  •The unbeliever rages against Him each day, just as the Romans did as He was scourged.  •But one day, every knee will brown before Him.  •They bowed in mockery. But it was actually a preview of what they and all men will do on the Final Day.  7.) In light of all this, there are three things I want to put before you: 1. We must bow to this Christ now.  •We can bow now in faith and repentance, clinging to Him alone as our salvation.  •Or we can be forced to our knees in the Judgment.  •We must choose. There is no third option.  •We either come to Him by faith, turning from our sin and trusting that His suffering and death saves us, or we will be condemned by Him and confess His anyway on the Final Day.  But remember His great love for sinners! •And run to Him in faith! •He died for sinners. And so, He loves to save them.  •He is willing to receive, forgive, and restore all who come to Him! •So trust in Him! Come to Him! 2. Christian, be encouraged as you see Christ mocked in the world.  •I know that it grieves us to hear and see how Christ is hated and mocked and spit upon and rejected.  •It vexes the soul of every person who has been born again.  •We know His goodness and glory and we hate to see sinners rage against Him.  But be encouraged: •The King will not permit this to go on forever.  •One day, ever mouth will be stopped. And the whole world will answer to the King.  •And on that day, He will receive the fullness of His vindication as everyone confesses that He is King.  •The King will not permit the rebellion to continue forever. And we glory in that truth.  3. Be strengthened to persevere in the Faith.  •As with our Lord, the way to glory is the way of suffering.  •There is no crown without a cross.  We must endure many things for His sake.  •We must turn from sin, deny ourselves, and pursue the hard road of killing sin.  •Denying the self and forsaking sin each day is part of carrying our cross. And we must carry it if we belong to Him.  And we must suffer many things in the service of the King.  •Many hardships. Many mocking. Many rejections. Many persecutions for His sake.  •We will all endure these things to one degree or another in this life.  But hear me: Suffering will give way to glory.  •Just wait.  •It happened for our Lord. And He promises the same to us.  •The Apostle Paul reminds us, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) Just as there is no crown without a cross, remember this: •For the Christian, there is no cross that does not lead to a crown.  •So take up your cross. It will all be worth it in the end.  May God grant us eyes to see the King in all His majesty.  •And seeing, may God grant us to trust, love, and be faithful to the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.  •Amen.