In Mark 15:16-21, we experience a very difficult and painful scene, as we witness the torture of Christ by the hands of Pilate's Praetorium Guard. It is horrific, hard, harsh, unfair, a brutal mockery, YET shockingly, it was the perfect Will of God, planned out by our Sovereign God in advance in great detail. But in the midst of this horror, God blows us all away [it is amazing to me] by providentially grabbing a man out of the crowd whom he intends to use in a massive way in the future of the coming Church. Right in the middle of this torturous path to the cross, Christ singles out a man, and his future family, to use in a great way in the first century church. So on the heels of great sorrow and horror, God puts His wise, gracious, profoundly providential heart on display to encourage every one of us. |