Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. Psalm 40: 7, 8. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. John 6: 38, NKJV.
Dear Heavenly Parent, our desire is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps as He was led by You. May we also allow You to lead us to the gates of the earth made new.
We have come to the end of our series: All The Way My Savior Leads Me. The last example in the series is our Perfect example, Jesus the Christ.
Even before coming to earth, the Savior’s mind was made up to do nothing but the will of the Father. He was not only going to be obedient, but He would delight in His obedience to the will of the Father. He would also show us how this would be possible, by going through the transformation that every son and daughter of God must go through in order to be victorious in the war between good and evil – He would have God’s law within – written in His heart.
At the very beginning of His ministry Scripture informs us that the Savior went to Galilee to receive baptism at the hand of his cousin John the Baptist. John, knowing that as the spotless “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29), Jesus had no need to be baptized. He tried to convince the Savior of this. The response of Jesus is an indication of His intentions to do everything according to the will of the Father, ” ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3: 15b). The Father showed His approval: ” ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ ” (17).
Next we learned that He was “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4: 1). He would follow the Spirit’s leading even into the wilderness of temptation! After that initiation the Savior was now ready to begin the work for which He had come into the world – to “declare” to a world that was in darkness who the Father was (John 1: 18) He would also show the world the “glory” of the Father (John 1: 14); a glory They had “before the world was” (17: 5).
When He finally came to the end of His life here on earth, as the reality of the suffering He must endure stares Him in the face, the Savior could have said “No, I do not want to go through with this plan.” And that would have been the end of that (Matthew 26: 52, 53). But once again we find Him submitting to the will of the Father. So three times He prays, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (39-44).
Because the Son had been led by the Father throughout His life on earth He could say, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5: 30).
As we observe the life of Christ, we can conclude that there is only one destiny for those who are led by the Savior – eternal life! Death could not keep the Savior in the grave, nor will it be able to keep prisoner any who are led by God (26-29). Like the songwriter we will be able to sing:
“All the way my Savior leads me; O the fullness of His love! Perfect rest to me is promised In my Father’s house above; When I wake to life immortal, Wing my flight to realms of day, This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way; This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way” (Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, p. 516).