Does God keep His promises? Is there anything that can derail God’s design? What we’ll see this morning is that nothing can undo what God has done. There are three things that threaten to invalidate God’s promises, yet the Word of God proves to be stronger than any of these three—or anything else that might come against it. So, firstly we see that:

1. Tradition cannot trump God’s Word. [19:31-32]

Let’s take a notice to see the irony of the Pharisees and Jewish leaders. They were very seriously concerned with keeping the Sabbath, yet they had no compunction about murdering an innocent man. Jesus had done nothing worthy of death, yet the used all their political clout and power to force Pilate’s hand, and Christ was crucified.

Their main concern was their own brand of external morality. So, it should not surprise us, that with the dead body of Jesus still hanging on the cross, they begin worrying about how to get it down and disposed of quickly enough so they won’t violate the Sabbath. That’s why they asked for the legs to be broken.

Why such a fuss to get these bodies down? Because this Sabbath was a high day (a special Sabbath). It was the Sabbath preceding Passover week. It was very special and everything had to be put just right — hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims would be converging on the city to celebrate the feast of the Passover — when God had rescued them from captivity to Egypt.

How perfectly poignant of God that the one true Lamb of God, the ultimate atonement, would be offered on the Day of Preparation. Remember at the beginning of this book, when John the Baptist saw Christ? What did he say? “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” [John 1:29] And now, at the very moment that lambs are being sacrificed for to show the need for atonement for the sins of the people, the one true Lamb of God has poured out his blood for the release from our captivity to sin.

Likewise, we keep external morality, but often fail to honor God. The Pharisees tied Scripture on their foreheads, yet “hearts are far from me” We sing great hymns and read study Bibles, but what do we do? Who do we serve? Our doctrinal proficiency isn’t the test of our faith: Do we love our brothers? Our enemies?

We can’t just claim as much of God as seems best to us. We can’t try to shoehorn the Almighty into our traditions. Here’s an honest question for many of us to think about: do we love Parkwood more than we love Christ? We’re proud of what God has done here, we’re glad to invest in this ministry — we wear t-shirts with church logos and ETC — but have we placed this body above its head? We must consider these things.

None of the Pharisees thought they were wrong. Ask God to examine your heart — is your trust in something other than Him? Even if it’s in something that we would consider “good” like church, if it’s not in Christ alone, then it is misplaced and will only do us harm.

The good thing is that even if there are those who value tradition more than it should be, even if they garner a great deal of power and became very influential; even if they begin to negatively impact the work of the kingdom in certain areas — they are not stronger than God. No human, nor any human tradition, can ever trump God’s Word.

2. Time cannot alter God’s Word. [19:33-37]

Scripture is fulfilled even though it was written centuries earlier. What does this tell us about the character of God? Faithful, unchanging... He is not slow in keeping His promises!

Noah waited 100 years from God’s Word promising a flood until the first drop of rain. Abraham waited 25 years before his promised son, Isaac, was born. Joseph served 22 years in Egyptian slavery and prison before his dream came true. David was anointed king and then went back to watching sheep; it was 5-10 before God allowed him to assume the kingship. And what of Christ? The wise men gave the infant Jesus a gift of myrrh -- burial perfume -- that was a foreshadow of what would happen to him 30 years later.

God does not work on our timetable; He is faithful to His promises in His time. When we are tempted to give up on God, or think that He has forgotten us, we must remember that He is not slow in keeping His promises [2 Peter 3:9]. When life gets tough — and some days it is very tough — we must remember that God hasn’t abandoned us, nor is He finished with us. All will be restored and made new; sufferings, evil, and tough days will one day be no more.

What we see happening with the cross and the tomb is exactly what God said would happen. And have you ever wondered about that? Most of us just assume that God is using His omniscient (all-knowing) foresight to see what is going to happen and then having His prophets reveals bits of it hundreds of years earlier. But that’s not what’s happening here. God is not predicting what will happen, He is revealing what He will do to fulfill His purposes!

3. Tragedy cannot discredit God’s Word. [19:38-42]

Jesus is buried. He is dead. He isn’t just passed out or in a dehydrated coma; he is dead. Where are His followers? Only two are with Him , and those in secret. Why? Where are the bold disciples? Where is Peter who pledged his life and drew his sword for Christ? Where is Thomas who said “let us go to Jerusalem that we may die with you”? They are gone. Scattered.

Jesus’ followers fled because they saw His death as the end. They thought it was the dramatic unraveling of their hopes and dreams. It hit them like the proverbial ton of bricks. How do we respond to suffering and death? Does the glare of pain blind our eyes to everything except our circumstances? Are we prepared to take God at His word, even through death? (our own and others)

Let me tell you the story of Anna Borger. At age 5, Anna believed in the Gospel, and although her father had been opposed to his children getting baptized at too early of an age, not even he could deny this young lady’s zeal. She began sharing the Gospel with her classmates at school and read through most of the Bible by the time she was 7.

Around that time, Anna’s parents — Todd and Timberley — accepted a position in the Pacific Rim. They took Anna and her older brother Samuel and moved to the other side of the world, following God’s call on their lives. Anna, now 9 years old, stayed in touch with old friends through e-mail, and she wrote a former teacher asking her to “pray that she would be able to show God’s love in its various forms” to a group of local girls she had become friends with.

The next day, Anna and her mother were out riding their bikes. They became separated. As Anna approached a bridge over a ravine, she missed the bridge and plummeted 30 feet into the ravine, dying on impact. An unthinkable tragedy. Can you imagine what her parents must think? I don’t know this for a fact, but I would guess they have probably wondered: why did we come to this place? If we’d stayed home, would our daughter still be alive? Why has God allowed this to happen?

What answers would you give them? If they were sitting right in front of you, looking at you from across the table, waiting for your reply, what would you say? What could you say?

When the doctor tells us that the cancer has spread, when the policeman shows up at our door to tell us about a fatal car accident; when the premature baby doesn’t ever get to come home — do we trust God? Have we come to understand His promises in a way that can support us through difficulty.

Friends, Jesus died. His closest followers — friends and family — could not understand this tragedy. They felt the pain of their loss and assumed that all their dreams and hopes had come to a crushing, devastating end. Jesus died. But He did not stay dead.

This world is full of tragedy. It hurts, it cripples, it disheartens. We are faced with the unexplainable; we wrestle with despair and struggle against hopelessness. But it is not the end. There is another day coming. Todd and Timberely will see their precious daughter again. More importantly, they will see their Savior face to face. Their night will soon fade away forever in the glorious light of Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is a visual reminder that God has kept, and will keep, His promises. Not just an act of remembrance, but a proclamation: God is faithful. He can be trusted. His is our hope, our trust, and our confidence. He will do what He has said.