THINGS THAT MUST COME TO PASS
Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer

Back in 1934 the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr prayed, “O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what can be changed and the wisdom to know the difference.” This is a message about things that cannot be changed. Things which all the prayer meetings in the world could never alter. Things which we must accept personally and events that will happen, no matter what.

Some things will happen in the world because of divine necessity. Just so, some things in our lives must happen. You cannot avoid death, no matter how hard you pray. And there are certain trials that God might bring into your life that you cannot pray away. Yes, some things must come to pass.

For example, Christ predicted, “Many will come in my name saying, ‘I am Christ’ and shall deceive many. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see to it you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.” Then He goes on to list other things which must come to pass.

Listen to this. To the people of Corinth Paul wrote, “For there must also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved might become evident among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19). His point is that doctrinal disputes are often used by God to help identify true believers. Yes, some unpleasant things must happen.

Then think of the words of Paul, “Through tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22b). Prayer might relieve us of some tribulations, but not all of them!

That little word must occurs dozens of times in the Bible. All kinds of tribulations and other divinely appointed events must of necessity take place.

Some things are logically necessary: two plus two equals four. Other things are morally necessary: I must pay my bills. There is also the necessity of obligation: I must help my friend who locked his keys in his car.

But there is also the necessity of love; the necessity that was upon Christ’s shoulders when He came to this earth on our behalf. Think of all of the “musts” in his life. At the age of 12 he said, “I must be about my Father’s business. “ He knew that his assignment had been given to Him by his Father. “I must do the will of Him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Christ did not write His own job description. He accepted it just as it was handed to Him. Whether it was the Sermon on the Mount, the feeding of the five thousand or the resurrection of Lazarus, we get the impression that Christ was doing what He and the Father had agreed on in eternity past.

A composer might write a piece and leave it on his desk for many months or years. But later the composition is played on the piano. We get the impression that Christ was playing on earth what was agreed on in eternity.

He was doing what He had to do. “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring.” He was doing what had to be done to fulfill the Father’s plan.

His life bore the marks of necessity.

And if we think that only some of the major matters were a part of the grand plan, remember his words to the little man in Jericho, “Zaccheus, I must dine at your house.”

Once the Father and the Son agreed on the plan, Christ had to fulfill it. His integrity was at stake. Not only His life, but also the details of His death were necessary. After the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, Christ explained to the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and die at the hands of the Jewish leaders.

Peter believed that this was not in keeping with the majesty of the Messiah. That his master would be humiliated was just a bit much for him to accept.

He tried to correct Christ, saying, “This shall never happen to you!” He wanted to remove one of the “musts” from Christ’s life. He didn’t realize that if Christ had accepted his proposal, he would not have been redeemed. Thus, Peter the rock turned out to be a stone of stumbling.

Was there the slightest possibility that Christ could have chosen to stay away from Jerusalem? No, for the script called for His dying there. He had to go to fulfill the Father’s will.

The details of His betrayal were also necessary.

“For I tell you that this “which is written must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to me has fulfillment.” (Luke 22:37)

Judas was chosen just as deliberately as were the other disciples. He was a part of the divine plan that Christ would be betrayed by someone who was close to the inner circle. Several times in the Gospel of John we read that Christ’s enemies could not take Him because. His “hour was not yet come.” Now, however, when Christ prayed to the Father He said, “Father the hour is come.” His life was regulated by the divine plan.

The details of Christ’s death were not left to the whim of random fate. When the soldiers came to Him as He was on the cross, they did not follow custom which required them to break His legs. Yet this happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of Him should not be broken.” It had to be so.

Also the resurrection of Christ was a necessity. On that special day Peter, along with the other disciples, came running to the tomb and entered into it and he saw and believed. But the other disciples, it says, “did not understand the Scriptures that he must rise from the dead.” Finally, his present reign in heaven is necessary, “He must reign until all of his enemies be put under His feet.”

What do we make of all these musts? What kind of necessity drove Christ? As already explained, this was not the necessity of logic or obligation, for he owed us nothing.

Was it the obligation of duty? Someone might say that Christ didn’t owe it to us, but He had a moral obligation to redeem us because after all we are so valuable as his creatures. No. I don’t think so.

What was this necessity? We have looked at a series of dominoes, each with the word “must” written on it. In fact there are more than we even had time to mention. Why so many “musts”?

Yes, as already explained, it is the necessity of love; the necessity of displaying God’s undeserved grace. The necessity that comes to those who give more love than they can ever expect in return. What if God simply wanted to display His grace; to show his love to those who are unlovable; what if He wanted to confer dignity on those who have none?

There is a story of a woman whose husband committed adultery, and as so often happens he left her and married the new woman. Years later they had several children and when her ex-husband discovered he had cancer he faced a dilemma. He knew that his present wife was unable to care for the children. He remembered that his first wife was such a good, loving mother. He came to her with an unthinkable request: would she adopt his children so that they would have a good upbringing? She said yes, and loved them as her very own.

That was not the necessity driven by logic. It was not a necessity driven by obligation; it was not a necessity driven by moral duty; it was the kind of necessity that drives people who just love to love, for the sheer love of it.

We were on Christ’s mind when he accepted the “musts” in His life. Aren’t you glad that Christ refused to take the path of least resistance? Aren’t you glad He was driven by a holy necessity, the necessity of love?

We might pause to ask: What is the necessity that drives us? Do we serve God out of obligation, a sense of deadening duty? Is it because of the necessity driven by purpose, that is, the belief that we hope to accomplish some personal or corporate end as a result of our commitment? Or is it driven by love, “We love Him because He first loved us?”

First, God calls all of us to some of those “musts.” Of course we should pray about all things, for there are some circumstances that God just might choose to change. But let us accept the “musts” in our life with the same sense of tranquillity; let us see in those “musts” the hand of God.

Some of our “musts” are divinely appointed. I say “some” of our musts, because some of our musts might be our own fault. Don’t blame God for your sins, or think that it is his fault that through poor planning you are late for church. But some tribulations cannot be helped; these are the “musts” laid upon us. Paul says, “Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Remember we are responsible for those things that we with God’s help can change; we are responsible for those things that can be different. But some things that lie in our path, even unpleasant things, might be necessary. And if so, we should not see them simply as things that God allows, but circumstances that are appointed by God.

Thus the mature Christian does not interpret tragedy as God’s bare permission, but rather as God’s chosen appointment. We are appointed to suffer.

Second, all of our musts should be submitted to God. Pray for grace to accept them. A young woman who was victimized as a child wrote to me, asking, “Could my childhood have changed?” I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that Christ predicted, “It must be that offenses must come...but woe to those through whom they come...”

Consider this: if Christ could be a victim by the will of God; if it is true that the divine plan called for Christ to suffer at the hands of wicked men, might it not be possible for some of his followers to suffer as victims under the same divine plan?

Christ was appointed to die in weakness; He said that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer. He died in God’s way and according to God’s timing. The cross could not be changed. His sufferings were appointed for him. Thus salvation was purchased for us.

Finally, God is just as much with us in our painful “musts” as He was with Christ in his painful “musts.” Daily the Son looked to the Father for the next step in the divine plan. Daily the Son received the strength to do that will.

Thankfully, the Son suffered what we shall never have to endure, namely, the loss of the Father’s fellowship right at His most painful moment. He cried out, “My God my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” In that moment He was identified with the sins of the world; He became legally guilty of all the terrible sins and crimes we can imagine. Thus the Father turned His back and fellowship was momentarily broken.

Christ was separated from God the Father that we might be accepted. His agony secured our acceptance. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, therefore I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

Are there any musts in Scripture that follow by logical necessity? “Musts” that are not driven by love or obligation? Must that follow from valid premises?

Yes. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” And Peter reminded his listeners at Pentecost, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved.”

Once we grasp who Christ is and understand who we are, it will be apparent that the conclusion follows necessarily. Yes, Christ can be the only Savior; yes, no one can enter into heaven without being born again. And yes, given the facts, it must be so.

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