By John Thiel, The Power of the Cross Conference, Study 6, mp3 

Scripture Reading Matthew 16:24-25 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

We want to contemplate the cross that Jesus embraced long before He met Calvary, Golgotha. We want to pick up the cross of Jesus from heaven down to earth and the journey that He continued until He reached Calvary. When we have our next study we will go from Gethsemane to Calvary. But now we want to study the power of the cross as it is revealed from heaven to earth. The purpose that we are studying this is that we may appreciate the power that comes from that; the power to conquer in the battle with sin.

The sufferings of Jesus, the path of the cross, right at the very beginning, is very little appreciated. In all my years of listening to the Word of God and of ministry, this particular subject of the sufferings of Jesus right at the very beginning is little touched on and yet that particular suffering is most excruciating in comparison to many of the other sufferings. Many times people simply look at Jesus at Calvary and think His excruciating suffering is there, but His sufferings as He travelled from heaven to earth are of a nature that is little thought of. That is what I want to spend time during this hour upon. Where did Jesus dwell before He came to this planet?

Jesus’ Place in Heaven

John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

He is speaking here on earth and says, I am going back there, but that’s where He came from. Jesus came from a place of heavenly mansions, from a place where angels dwell and surrounded Him with admiration. He had relationships in heaven, He had a beautiful experience in heaven and He left that beautiful place to come onto this sin-riddled planet with all its evil and corruptions.

What was He in heaven before He came here? Not only dwelling in that beautiful place, but what He was there and what He actually let go of.

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Before He came to this earth He was, in the form of God. To come down to this planet.

He thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation. In other words, He did not regard it as something to hold on to at the loss of everybody else. Robbery is when you rob somebody and it’s a loss for them and a gain for you. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation. He did not hold onto this at the loss of others, He let it go; He made Himself of no reputation. He let go of His position as God. He let go of His enjoyable surroundings. He took on an experience of leaving heaven.

As He left heaven, He embarked on a journey; a journey to find Himself in fashion in the likeness of men. It was something that would happen to Him as He embarked on that journey. Let us follow Him on this journey from home to a dark earth, to an experience of taking humanity upon Himself. Notice what was meant with this. I want to really embed this very deeply into your concentration this moment because we want to be able to enter into a journey with Jesus that is going to be helpful to us. We need the illumination of the Holy Spirit to really enter completely into this journey that Jesus took. We need the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will reveal to us these deep things of God. It is a deep thing to enter into a journey with Christ from heaven to earth and the Holy Spirit is needed for that.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

God has some things for the people He loves and eye hath not seen nor ear heard. We usually read this in application to heaven one day but there is much more involved here.

1 Corinthians 2:10 But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

What does the Spirit of God search? It searches the deep things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

For you to understand God’s things we need the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

The story of Jesus is a gift that God has given to us and we need to understand it. It is that we might know the deep things of God in reference to that subject and so we need the Holy Spirit to help us. Let us truly turn our mind to the Holy Spirit now that He would help us.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

To follow Jesus in this journey; God had given Him as a ransom. He gave Him as a ransom to purchase us out of captivity. The things that are freely given to us of God, includes a ransom. He gave Him freely. Our experience with Jesus is very much illuminated by the Holy Spirit. How the Spirit communicates the things of Jesus to us so that we can indeed understand and appreciate the things of the Spirit.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show [it] unto you.

What will the Spirit do? We have asked the Spirit to help us. He will not speak of himself. What will he speak of? He will speak of Jesus; He will show you; He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show [it] unto you. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the journey which Jesus undertook to arrive here on this earth.

Faith in Christ is not the work of nature, but the work of God on human minds, wrought in the very soul by the Holy Spirit, who reveals Christ, as Christ revealed the Father. {OHC 117.2}

What does the Holy Spirit do? He reveals to us Christ just as Christ came to reveal the Father. If we want to understand what Jesus went through, we are illuminated by the Holy Spirit to reveal that to us. Can you see why it’s so important that we receive the outpouring of the former and latter rain? It is the Holy Spirit that shows to us the power of God in the redeeming us of our sinful condition. Follow the journey now as the Holy Spirit reveals it.

The Journey – Conception

As Jesus embarked on this journey to become in the likeness of humanity, how did He come to earth? What was His journey to come from heaven to earth? How did He come to earth? He came by birth. Stop to think for a moment. What is that journey? He arrived in Mary’s womb. As He arrived in Mary’s womb, in what form did He arrive there? He became a human being by uniting Himself with the human genome inside of Mary’s womb. He was conceived. Just like a human being is conceived from father and mother, the ingredient when the angel came to Mary and said that holy thing that is conceived in you is none other than the Son of God.

Here was a conception of the ovum of Mary and the sperm “that holy thing” coming together. What did it mean for Jesus to embark on the journey of entering into Mary’s womb? What an experience is here entered into! A lofty, noble person, the Son of God entering as a little seed as a little sperm to join together with the female ovum. Let us examine this under inspiration. The Holy Spirit must help us to understand this.

Christ, at an infinite cost, by a painful process, mysterious to angels as well as to men, assumed humanity. {UL 90.2}

The Spirit of God says was that Jesus embarked on a journey at an infinite cost. What does the word infinite mean? It means infinity. The cost, the experience of pain was of a magnitude into infinity. This is very hard for us to comprehend. Infinity was His experience. It was a painful process; an infinite painful process which was mysterious to angels. They saw Him there; He was their wonderful source of worship, then they saw Him disappear. It’s a painful experience; it’s a mysterious thing to both angels and humanity to assume humanity because there in that little ingredient into Mary’s womb was contained the whole realm of the divine nature. It was all there but it was constricted into that tiny little thing. I ask you the question, here He is in a conscious state in heaven; His consciousness was there, was the sperm conscious? Was that which entered into the womb of Mary conscious? The quote here that tells you that His conscious self as a being that is there in heaven went and embarked on a journey of constriction into an unconscious state. What does it say here? It says a painful process.

When I meditate on this I marvel; He went and embarked on a journey of pain. There was the beginning of His cross experience, a painful process. We think the thorns on His head were painful, but this one doesn’t even enter into our mind. It was a painful process to assume humanity at an infinite cost. There was the beginning of the journey of the cross. This is verified that His consciousness became unconscious. It’s like a person receiving an operation without anaesthetic. In the process of the operation, it is so painful that the pain gets so severe that he becomes unconscious. That is the picture we are looking at. To verify this that His consciousness wasn’t there until afterwards when He developed consciousness.

But One greater than Moses lay in the priest’s arms; and when he enrolled the child’s name, he was enrolling the name of One who was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. That name was to be its death warrant; for the system of sacrifices and offerings was waxing old; the type had almost reached its antitype, the shadow its substance.  {DA 52.2}

Little did he think, as the babe lay in his arms, that it was the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory. DA 52.2}

There’s this little baby that took nine months to develop and was now fully ready for birth and now after eight days he was being blessed and there was this little baby in his arms and he didn’t even know that it was the Majesty of heaven. Of course not, how do people unless they know the Scriptures and have the Holy Spirit’s guidance understand what was going on?

The Shekinah had departed from the sanctuary, but in the Child of Bethlehem was veiled the glory before which angels bow. This unconscious babe was the promised seed, to whom the first altar at the gate of Eden pointed. This was Shiloh, the peace giver. It was He who declared Himself to Moses as the I AM. {DA 52.3}

This unconscious babe is the I AM. He became unconscious as He was constricted into a little seed to become a little embryo. He was a tiny little cell that multiplied and got bigger and bigger into the form of an embryo and then into the baby and then He was born. He was unconscious. Can you remember your birth? Not at all. We were unconscious of our surroundings when we were born. So was Jesus. All of heaven was not in His mind, He didn’t know, He was unconscious. That I AM was the unconscious babe.

Years of Infancy and Childhood   

Continue the journey now. The unconscious mind of a baby very slowly becomes consciously aware of what takes place around it. The baby begins slowly to awaken to certain things and it is conscious of what is going on to remember only after a while. I can remember back to about one year old. I described my experience once when my mother was changing my nappy on a train and I could hear the train going clickety clack. I described the situation and my mother was surprised that I remembered that. It was about one year of age or maybe even less. There was an awareness that slowly can be remembered and be conscious of. It is a slowly dawning consciousness.

Wonderful in its significance is the brief record of His early life: “The child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.” In the sunlight of His Father’s countenance, Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52. {DA 68.2}

You notice the Scripture tells us here He increased in wisdom. Where did He start from?

His mind was active and penetrating, with a thoughtfulness and wisdom beyond His years. Yet His character was beautiful in its symmetry. The powers of mind and body developed gradually, in keeping with the laws of childhood.  {DA 68.2}

Here we have it under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we can see that the gradual development of His mind in which He began to become conscious like every other babe from an unconscious awareness into gradual development as the laws of childhood take place.

With deep earnestness the mother of Jesus watched the unfolding of His powers, {DA 69.1}

Just like every other mother watches the baby as it starts to develop she watched the unfolding of His powers.

…and beheld the impress of perfection upon His character. With delight she sought to encourage that bright, receptive mind. {DA 69.1}

She was there actually as a mother like all mothers trying to develop that child’s sensitive consciousness of things. She was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help.

Through the Holy Spirit she received wisdom to co-operate with the heavenly agencies in the development of this child, who could claim only God as His Father.  {DA 69.1}

We are on the journey; we are watching Jesus from an unconscious state gradually developing and under the tuition of the mother developing the wisdom as she received wisdom from the Holy Spirit.

From the earliest times the faithful in Israel had given much care to the education of the youth.  {DA 69.2}

God had instructed the parents how to train their youth.

The Lord had directed that even from babyhood the children should be taught of His goodness and His greatness, especially as revealed in His law, and shown in the history of Israel. Song and prayer and lessons from the Scriptures were to be adapted to the opening mind. Fathers and mothers were to instruct their children that the law of God is an expression of His character, and that as they received the principles of the law into the heart, the image of God was traced on mind and soul. Much of the teaching was oral; but the youth also learned to read the Hebrew writings; and the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures were open to their study.  {DA 69.2}

Did you notice here that God had instructed the Hebrews how to train their children so when Mary arrived on the scene, she would know how to train and develop the Son of God in the human being? A discovery of education and the developing of the mind from babyhood; the image of God was traced on mind and soul. That is what Jesus received at the hand of Mary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The child Jesus did not receive instruction in the synagogue schools. His mother was His first human teacher. From her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. {DA 70.1}

Stop to think about that; He was unconscious, He was made aware as He grew older and His mother was training Him and now as He got to the point where His mother was His first teacher and from her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. He left heavenly things back into an unconscious state and now Jesus had to learn heavenly things.

The very words which He Himself had spoken to Moses for Israel He was now taught at His mother’s knee. As He advanced from childhood to youth, He did not seek the schools of the rabbis. He needed not the education to be obtained from such sources; for God was His instructor.  {DA 70.1}

Here we have another wonderful revelation of the journey of Jesus which we also must have. God was His instructor through Mary, a human being. It was God who was His instructor through the human being. You can see that this is all important material to understand.

The question asked during the Saviour’s ministry, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” does not indicate that Jesus was unable to read, but merely that He had not received a rabbinical education. John 7:15. Since He gained knowledge as we may do, His intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures shows how diligently His early years were given to the study of God’s word. {DA 70.2}

I implore you to be very diligent as we follow this journey through.

And spread out before Him was the great library of God’s created works. He who had made all things studied the lessons which His own hand had written in earth and sea and sky. {DA 70.2} 

He had put it there and now He had to learn about it.

Apart from the unholy ways of the world, He gathered stores of scientific knowledge from nature. He studied the life of plants and animals, and the life of man. From His earliest years He was possessed of one purpose; He lived to bless others. For this He found resources in nature; new ideas of ways and means flashed into His mind as He studied plant life and animal life. Continually He was seeking to draw from things seen illustrations by which to present the living oracles of God. The parables by which, during His ministry, He loved to teach His lessons of truth show how open His spirit was to the influences of nature, and how He had gathered the spiritual teaching from the surroundings of His daily life.  {DA 70.2}

What He was sharing in the parables was not something that He had it was something that He studied as His mind was developing.

Thus to Jesus the significance of the word and the works of God was unfolded, as He was trying to understand the reason of things. {DA 70.2} 

What was Jesus trying to understand? He had them before He was here but then He was unconscious and now He was learning to try to understand the reason of things.

Heavenly beings were His attendants, and the culture of holy thoughts and communings was His. .{DA 70.3}

This is the journey that He went on. We are studying it for our own good.

From the first dawning of intelligence He was constantly growing in spiritual grace and knowledge of truth.  {DA 70.3}

This was the journey of Jesus; the journey of the cross.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.  16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Was there a time Jesus could not discern to refuse the evil and choose the good? It is self-evident from the statement. Jesus’ developing mind was coming out of a state of ignorance, out of a state of unconsciousness to a state of being able to discern to refuse evil and to choose the good. These things we often don’t stop to think about; but this is the journey of Jesus. He learnt how to refuse evil and choose the good. Why did He do that? It was because you and I have to do it so He came and showed the way as we follow Him in the journey.

From the Age of Twelve

Now we come to the journey where He was 12 years of age. Twelve years onwards are the years of adolescence where the hormonal system begins to wake up. We studied the hormonal system with all its emotional passions etc. A child does not have a hormonal influence yet but when it becomes twelve years of age onwards things begin to awaken inside of the child. Jesus was such a child. As we study this subject, we see that He developed like every human being. Up to the age of twelve the mental exercises of the brain are developing, then to the age of twenty the intelligent components continue to develop and to the age of thirty the spiritual mind comes to its conclusion.

When did Jesus commence His ministry? It was at the age of thirty. He wasn’t ready for it until He was thirty. That is something to think about. He developed on throughout those years. As we read this about the age of twelve, notice what is written about His developing, unfolding understandings as the Son of God and the son of man. This is the Passover visit. They were permitted to go to the Passover at that age because there was an awakening of things.

For the first time the child Jesus looked upon the temple. He saw the white-robed priests performing their solemn ministry. He beheld the bleeding victim upon the altar of sacrifice. With the worshipers He bowed in prayer, while the cloud of incense ascended before God. He witnessed the impressive rites of the paschal service. Day by day He saw their meaning more clearly. {DA 78.1}

As He was watching, He was pondering and He could see the meaning of things.

Every act seemed to be bound up with His own life. New impulses were awakening within Him. {DA 78.1}

As He was watching, things were awakening within Him. Oh, this means something to do with me. He didn’t know anything about that before; now He sees it.

Silent and absorbed, He seemed to be studying out a great problem. The mystery of His mission was opening to the Saviour.  {DA 78.1}

This is His journey. Can you see that Jesus was learning about Himself what He was meant to be? As we grow in grace, we are to learn as He had to learn. He saw the meaning of His life and of His ministry. It was a problem, it was a mystery. He saw it more clearly. New impulses were awakening within Him.

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

That is why we are to follow that mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

In His journey as He came to twelve years of age, He found Himself in fashion as a man because there at the age of twelve adolescence begins to show whether he is a male or a female. He found Himself in fashion as a man. The awakening of His impulses had to be sorted out just like all young people have to sort out their awakening. He was working through the process there at the Pascal service and it was a problem that He had to work through. He began to see slowly day by day the development of this. Finding Himself in fashion as a man, He became obedient. As the hormonal impulses and feelings were rising within Him and He is beginning to explore and discover His body, He became obedient. What does that suggest? He became obedient unto death. In other words as He realised what was going on in His body, He decided to obey what God wanted Him to do contrary to His flesh. He was obedient to the death of the flesh. It went on even unto the death of the cross at Calvary.

Here is a sweeping view of His journey and I want us to follow that sweeping view through very carefully. He discovered something at the age of twelve and He learned to obey. What did He learn? We are studying this because we need to learn the power of the cross which commenced from heaven onwards.

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

What was He learning obedience to do? As a sacrifice for sin, as a journey to show us how to conquer sin, He in the likeness of sinful flesh was obedient to the law and resisted sin in the flesh; He condemned sin in the flesh. The hormonal developments were being mortified so that He could continue to obey and not fall for the law of sin in His members. The flesh that He took upon Himself was a flesh doomed to die because of sin. He took on the same flesh so that He could be helpful to us. As He left heaven, He sacrificed, was obedient and became unconscious. Then He developed. As He grew and became twelve;

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

He learned to be obedient to conquer the flesh to again mortify. It was a repetition of His journey of dying and awakening progressively right through to Golgotha. This was His journey. Look how obedient He was. He was twelve years of age and His parents came and looked for Him because He got side-tracked and He didn’t follow His parents. What did He say to them when they finally found Him? Don’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business? He might have said, now I must be about my Father’s business Mum and Dad, you go your way. No, He only just discovered that and it says He was obedient. What was written about Him on His journey? In that sinful flesh that He had, what is it like young people? Do you find it easy to obey your parents? Is it easy to obey our parents? Jesus it is written was submissive to His parents, He was obedient. He went with them back to Nazareth. There in Nazareth He was surrounded by, as it is written, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? He was obedient in His journey. Why?

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

He was obedient through every stage with the impulse of evil in His flesh.

In his humanity Christ was tried with as much greater temptation, with as much more persevering energy than man is tried by the evil one, as his nature was greater than man’s.  {RH, December 20, 1892 par. 7} 

He had in His nature the divine nature.

This is a deep mysterious truth, that Christ is bound to humanity by the most sensitive sympathies.   {RH, December 20, 1892 par. 7} 

He could feel the human flesh just like you and I. What are those sensitive sympathies?

The evil works, the evil thoughts, the evil words of every son and daughter of Adam press upon his divine soul.   {RH, December 20, 1892 par. 7} 

He was combined with sinful human flesh. The evil works, the evil thoughts, the evil words of every son and daughter of Adam press upon his divine soul. Thoughts arrive in His being and He has to repel them as out of place.

The sins of men called for retribution upon himself; for he had become man’s substitute, and took upon him the sins of the world. He bore the sins of every sinner; for all transgressions were imputed unto him, though “he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.” Though the guilt of sin was not his, his Spirit was torn and bruised by the transgressions of men.  {RH, December 20, 1892 par. 7}

His Spirit was torn inside of Him, the divine contrary to the human and the human was there struggling. This is the journey Jesus was on.

Would that we could comprehend the significance of the words, Christ “suffered being tempted.” While He was free from the taint of sin, the refined sensibilities of His holy nature rendered contact with evil unspeakably painful to Him. {7BC 927.4}

There’s the suffering; there’s the cross. He was suffering unspeakable infinite pain becoming constricted into Mary’s womb. He grew up and became aware of His flesh. As the temptations were coming upon Him, it was unspeakably painful for Him because He was pure and there was contact with evil inside of Him.

Yet with human nature upon Him, He met the archapostate face to face, and single-handed withstood the foe of His throne. Not even by a thought could Christ be brought to yield to the power of temptation. {7BC 927.4}

The thought came but He didn’t continue to think about it; He rejected it. These thoughts were repulsed.

He is our example in all things. He is a brother in our infirmities, “in all points tempted like as we are;” {SC 93.4}

What did He do? As the thoughts that were bruising Him were coming to Him, His nature recoiled from evil. It’s like a spring. It just suddenly gets released. His nature recoiled from those thoughts and impulses of the human flesh.

…but as the sinless one His nature recoiled from evil; He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin. His humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege. He found comfort and joy in communion with His Father. And if the Saviour of men, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mortals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer.  {SC 93.4}

You can see here the journey of Christ is for us. His journey of suffering was not only internal it was external. We can read largely when He was in Nazareth how that the priests were putting pressure on Him because He was following His Father’s mind and they were coming up with their own opinions trying to press His mother. It is written in Desire of Ages page 85 how Jesus was an obedient child and as the priests were trying to get Him to do certain things, He was willing to obey but He said show me from the Bible then I will do it. Because they couldn’t show Him from the Bible, they wanted Him to obey them. Have you ever heard somebody say, do as you are told, don’t try to reason. That is what Jesus was suffering. He was supposed to just do what they were telling Him. He was willing to obey but it had to be from the Bible. That is when they got angry with Him and they put pressure on Him. External trouble and suffering. His journey continued through external and internal struggles. Following Him on this journey, I want to conclude with some important thoughts.

Concluding Thoughts

Jesus went through this journey of the cross before He even came to Calvary so that we might respond to His example. Let this mind be in you. We are to receive the divine nature. That is written in Peter that we receive the divine nature through His wonderful promises. When we in our human sinful condition without new birth come to a new birth experience, we are an unconscious babe like Jesus was. Very slowly we are called to enter that journey with Him. Let this mind now become conscious; let the divine mind become conscious to us as we develop as Jesus developed.

Romans 8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

The Holy Spirit wants to come upon us and implant through His precious promises the divine mind. Now we may be made free from the law of death.

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Jesus did and we are called upon to enter that journey. A pure mind called upon by sinful flesh. Jesus woke up slowly and as the sinful flesh became conscious to Him He was obedient even unto death. It was a suffering that He went through for the purpose that we might go through it with Him. We want to follow the journey with Him.

Only by the inexpressible anguish which Christ endured can we estimate the evil of unrestrained indulgence. His example declares that our only hope of eternal life is through bringing the appetites and passions into subjection to the will of God.  {DA 122.2}

He was obedient unto death. What is Christ’s example there for, why are we studying His journey? As we study the journey of the cross, we learn by His example to bring our hormonal appetites and passions into subjection to the will of God.

In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring temptation upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being, to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false insinuations to ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by passing over the ground which man must travel, {DA 122.3}

We are traveling on our journey.

…our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome. It is not His will that we should be placed at a disadvantage in the conflict with Satan. He would not have us intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent. “Be of good cheer,” He says; “I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.  {DA 122.3}

Jesus traveled the journey so that the ground that we have to travel over, He traveled over and He showed us in that journey how to be obedient even unto the death of the cross.

Let him who is struggling against the power of appetite look to the Saviour in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony upon the cross, as He exclaimed, “I thirst.” He has endured all that it is possible for us to bear. His victory is ours.  {DA 123.1}

This is why we have studied the journey of the cross from heaven through to earth.

All who truly believe will confess and forsake their sins. They will cooperate with Christ in the work of bringing their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong under the control of the divine will, so that sin shall not have dominion over them. {OHC 117.3}

What are we to do in the journey? We are to cooperate with Christ. Jesus did it and we are on the same journey. He went through the clamouring of our sinful flesh and we can learn from Him to cooperate with Him in this journey.

Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, they will be changed into His likeness. They will grow up into the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.  {OHC 117.3}

As Jesus grew from babyhood to adulthood, they will grow up too as they follow the journey.

Those who truly believe, who confess and forsake their sins, will grow more and more like Christ, until of them it can in heaven be said, “Ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10.  {OHC 117.3}

To take this journey to completion, we may receive the divine nature, we might find ourselves as Christ did, we may awaken to things that we never knew before. What didn’t we know before about our human flesh? It has tendencies in it that we must control. Jesus discovered it and He showed us the way by His own journey. Here His journey is to be ours to follow.

What a comforting thought {UL 162.3}

Are you comforted at this thought of the journey of Jesus?

…that Jesus is touched with the feelings of our infirmities! He has been tempted in all points as we are tempted, and just the right kind of help has been provided for us, that if we only put our feet in the prints of Jesus’ footsteps, we will be safe. {UL 162.3}

What are we to enter into? We are to enter into the journey that Jesus went through; the footsteps.

He has hallowed the path His feet have trod. We hear His inviting voice, “Follow Me. I am the Light of the world. They that follow Me shall not walk in darkness. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (see Matthew 4:19; 8:12; John 16:33).  {UL 162.3}

In actual experience Christ has overcome the world, {UL 162.4}

In His journey He overcame the world.

….and how great is His love to us when He invites us to come to Him in all our afflictions, distresses, heartaches, and perplexities, with the assurance that He will help us. He will bring health and brightness into our lives. If we place our hand in the hand of Jesus Christ, He will place our feet on solid rock, a better foundation than we ever had before. He will make us more strong in His strength and He will work with all our efforts.  {UL 162.4}

It is my prayer that we will cooperate with Him; that we will enter into that journey and not forget so quickly this path Jesus mapped out for us in His journey so that we can follow His footsteps. Remember that in this journey there are experiences that we meet, there are thoughts and feelings aroused by Satan that annoy even the best of men. If these thoughts and feelings are repulsed as evil they will not mar our experience. Jesus met them; He was the best of men. He found Himself in fashion as a man; He received thoughts and feelings that annoyed Him and He says I have walked this journey before you, now cooperate with me repulse these thoughts and feelings and you will not be marred by these things.

May it be that God will help us to focus upon this story of Jesus’ sufferings from heaven through the journey even to the cross. We will have our next meditation from Gethsemane and Calvary and come out the other side. May God help us understand these things is my prayer.

Amen.

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