Triumphant
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Triumph: a victory or conquest by or as if by military force (Merriam-Webster)
So to feel triumphant is to experience the deep satisfaction of conquest and victory in some way.
I will send out an army to find you In the middle of the darkest night It's true, I will rescue you I will never stop marching to reach you In the middle of the hardest fight It's true, I will rescue you
3 Act Play during what we call Holy Week.
During Holy Week, Jesus was
ACT 1
1) Credited as a Coming King
Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem
Matthew 21:8-9 (NLT)
Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!”
Jesus felt TRIUMPHANT on what we call Palm Sunday.
What is your “triumphant” level these days?
Great things to celebrate?
During Holy Week, Jesus was
ACT 1
1) Credited as a Coming King
AND
ACT 2
2) Crushed as a Common Criminal
Isaiah 53:4-6, 9-12 (NLT)
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.
But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious [triumphant] soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
John 19:30 (NLT)
Jesus said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Colossians 2:13-15 (CEB) When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong. . . God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.
There are two TRIUMPHANT victory images here.
First, is an accounting image.
Jesus paid a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.
The 2nd image is of a triumphal parade.
Colossians 2:15 (CEB)
When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.
It is finished!
We don’t fully experience on this side of death, the feeling of everything being finished.
Evil forces are still aligned against us.
Systems of human sin, still affect us.
We are oppressed from the outside.
Others fail.
We have external conflict.
We are tempted on the inside.
We fail.
We have internal conflict.
Bring your “Messy in the middle” to Jesus’ “It is finished!”
Where are you most sensing the brokenness INSIDE of you?
Where are you most sensing the brokenness OUTSIDE of you?
The world—Oppressive human systems outside us
The flesh—Broken pulls to sin inside us
The devil—Evil spiritual forces aligned against us
Before you take the bread, repeat after me,
IT IS FINISHED!
Before you take the wine or juice, repeat after me,
IT IS FINISHED!
During Holy Week, Jesus was
ACT 1
1) Credited as a Coming King
ACT 2
2) Crushed as a Common Criminal
AND
ACT 3
3) Crowned as a Conquering Christ
Philippians 2:5-11 (NLT)
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Incarnation Reign
Ministry Return
Betrayal Enthronement
Injustice Ascension
Crucifixion Resurrection
IT IS FINISHED
Benediction:
May you go forth with resurrected Easter courage knowing that whatever you face outside of you or inside of you, you have ultimate hope, because Jesus has already won the victory for you and IT IS FINISHED!
