27th March 2026
Checkmate
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:3-5 (NIV)
Checkmate! It’s the word the winning player declares in the endgame of chess when the losing king is trapped and as good as dead. Jesus died. Is our King a losing king?
This King of Israel, after being anointed for his burial, enters Jerusalem on a donkey, and the plotters gather to deliver their coup d’etat. He is betrayed, arrested, abandoned, tortured. He stood accused by those in power and did not defend himself against a single charge. On the surface, it appears that evil is winning, and the King is losing.
The soldiers mock the King with a crown of thorns, a scarlet robe, and a staff. Jesus is lifted up on the cross, which resembled anything but a worldly throne. Unlike other kings, who win, who conquer by killing and taking, the King sets the entire cosmos right by giving his life. And in so losing his life, the King draws all to himself. He secures the keys to death by losing his life, entering hades and unlocking it from the inside.
Jesus Christ is God’s checkmate!
Prayer
Abba Father, we thank you for your beloved Son and for giving us an anointing in him through the Holy Spirit. Help us to listen and abide in him, in Jesus’s name, Amen.
This study was first published in the 12 February 2025 edition of the GCI Update.
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Study by: Bharat Naker About the author: |
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