That's Impossible!

"And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate." - Mark 15:1

How can Infinity be bound? How can Omnipotence be restrained? Poor, pitiful man, how is it that you think that the creature can hold the Creator captive? Is it not possible only because He has permitted you to do so? Because, in the eternal counsels of God, it was determined to be, that Jesus should be bound, therefore He was bound. "He became obedient unto death," and, in preparation for this death, He humbled Himself and was bound by vessels of clay.

Let all creation wonder, that He Who said "Let there be," should bow to the dust which He had created. Stand amazed, ye angels of God, that impotence should tie the hands of the Almighty. Well, by permission it was done, that all things should be fulfilled, and the Lord of Glory so humbled Himself. Man would have humbled Him, if he could have done so, but it was not the will of man that bound the Saviour. Man did will it, to be sure, but it was according to the counsel of God's own will that Jesus should be bound and carried away. This was proven in that the sufferings of Christ never went beyond what the Scriptures foretold of them. There was not one blow more or less to that blessed face than was before determined, not one taunt, not one action of the combined forces of the Jewish mob and the Roman soldiers that had not been accounted for in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Wicked men took Him and slew Him, but only because God did design that it should happen. Man, in the height of his wrath against God, in the fulness of his rage against the Brightness of His Glory, could do no more than perform the will of God in the matter. Let nature rise up against its Maker, still it is like the sea to which God has said "this far and no farther." Nothing can be done that has not been foreknown, foreseen, and foreordained. Man, as free as he wills to be, still is bound to carry out the will of God.

So, Christ, as our righteous Samson, is not bound by the cords of His captors, but by the Father's will. And even in the apparent triumph of His oppressors He could have snapped their bonds with ease, but for His submission to the eternal Will of God. And in His death, our Mighty Lord slew more than He did in His life, for in His death, Death itself died, and Christ destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil.

Oh, foolish men, you cannot see that the bonds are on your own wrists: for as you move to do all the wickedness you desire, yet you only accomplish that which has been ordered from before the foundation of the world!

Satan, in all glee do you bruise His heel, and yet, in so doing, the fatal blow strikes your own head.

Who can stand against the power of God? When every work of man and devils to dishonor God is turned to His eternal glory, what can be done against Him? Sing, all ye His saints, His wondrous works in salvation - sing the wisdom of His ways - sing His glory and grace! Who but our Saviour could, in being bound, bind sin and death and Hell? And who but He, being carried away captive, could lead our captivity captive and give gifts unto men?

"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake."


O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.