"Only Jesus Knew
the Score"
"While they were eating, Jesus
took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,
'Take and eat; this is my body.'
"Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink
from it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many the forgivenesss of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the
vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's
kingdom.'
"When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of
Olives."
(Matthew 26: 26-30)
***********
Scholars today can tell us with great assurance what hymn was sung that
evening in the Upper Room at the conclusion of this final Passover fellowship
meal ("The Last Supper"). The disciples and the Lord surely sang the Hallel
Psalms as was the customary Jewish Passover tradition. Accordingly,
the last hymn that they would have sung would surely have been Psalm 118.
As Jesus sat with his disciples, he knew that within a few short hours he
would be surrounded by an angry mob demanding his death. He knew what lay
before him. He knew that he would become God's true sacrificial
Lamb and the true Unleavened Bread to be broken for all to see. And in
the unfathomable wisdom of God, the Jewish Passover Hallel tradition
would dictate the awesome prophetic script for Jesus and his disciples at this
Last Supper.
Within just a few hours, two thousand years of prophetic "shadow" would
'kiss' the Truth that had omnisciently cast it. The pivot point of all history
was about to occur. The words of Israel's prophets concerning Messiah were about
to be fulfilled. And that evening...in that room, Jesus alone knew it.
Before leaving Jerusalem to go to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of
Gethsemane, the Anointed One, Israel's long-promised Prophet, Priest and King,
lifted his voice in that Upper Room and sang....
"Open for me the gates of
righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the
LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may
enter.
I will give thanks, for you
answered me;
you have become my salvation.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it."
(Psalm 118: 19-24)
Jesus knew.
The time had come....This was the day!
"Only Jesus Knew the
Score"
When they sang the Hymn that evening,
Only Jesus knew the score...
Those glad and joyful verses,
Hid the pain that was in store.
Jesus saw the torture coming...
The crown of thorns pressed on his head;
He knew the mocking and the scourging,
Even as He broke the Bread.
He saw The Cross and Roman soldiers;
He understood those painful signs,
That the Prophets had once spoken...
Even as He poured the wine.
He knew well there at The Table,
Of the wicked heart of man....
He saw clearly Calv'ry's bloodshed,
And nails driven through His hands.
He knew the pain, the spit, the laughing...
He knew the spear would pierce his side;
He knew death by crucifixion,
Was how Messiah had to die.
He'd be the stone that was rejected;
He saw the writing on the wall.
He'd soon know the painful suff'ring...
As He obeyed The Father's call.
*******
Yet Jesus saw beyond the torture,
Past the insult and the pain...
Beyond the mocking and the jeering,
The twisted heart of men insane.
So He sang this Hymn with gladness,
For soon the ransom would be paid!
God's Unleavened Bread provided...
This was the day the LORD had made!
The Covenant once promised...
The Hope of Blessing long foretold...
Would be "cut" in bloody crimson,
At last, in Christ, it would unfold.
And so Death would now Passover
Those whose Faith lies in The Lamb.
Ancient Promise made to Abram*...
Firstfruit spoils Satanic Scam.
So the Gate to Life and Glory,
Would swing open now for all...
And through Faith all men might enter
God the Father's Banquet Hall!**
Christ knew death could never keep Him...
Though He knew it lay ahead.
Resurrection frees the captives;
Taste this Wine and Broken Bread.
Friend, please come now to His Table...
It's still the Day the Lord has made!
Sing Hosannah in the highest!
Rejoice!...The debt we owe...He paid!
"Now if we died with Christ, we
believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was
raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives he lives
to God.
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ
Jesus." (Romans 6: 8-11)
*Genesis 12:1-3
**Luke 14: 15-24
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