What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? That is what seemingly happened when Jesus prayed to His Father the night before He died for our sins. The immovable object of our sin and death met the irresistible force of God’s will.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate from the tree, the immovable object of sin and death has held men and women in bondage. But the irresistible force of God’s will patiently worked to position the redemption of God into a place where it could remove the immovable object from mankind.

And in the middle of the immovable object of sin and death and the irresistible force of God’s will is God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

From the foundations of the world Jesus knew that He was going to have to carry the immovable failures of mankind (Revelation 13:8). But when the very moment came to carry the pain of sin and death it was almost unbearable for Him.

“And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:35-36).

Jesus deeply believed that all things were possible for His Father. So in humility and reverence He asked His Heavenly Father, if it was possible, to remove from Him the burden of carrying our sins. I am sure at that moment carrying our sins seemed like an impossibility for Jesus. Remember, He was tempted in all things just like us (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Many times in our lives we face obstacles that are seemingly impossible to overcome. When we face those obstacles we must rest our faith on the truth that with God all things are possible.

I have faced many impossible situations and have seen the impossible occur. Like the time I walked into an emergency room where a good friend lay in a bed. All the tests they administered showed he had a heart attack. That night he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and after establishing Jesus as Lord, we prayed healing for him.  He checked out of the hospital the next day having been miraculously healed.

But there are also times when the impossible seems to not be moved. In those times we have to go to a place ultimate trust, where we declare, “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done!” The total abandonment of every area of our hearts has to be surrendered to the will and love of God.

This statement is not a statement of defeat, it is a statement of resting in the eternal truth that our Heavenly Father, causes all things to work out for my good. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

For years, when I read the passage in Mark and saw Jesus pray and rest himself in the will of God, I believed Jesus was merely surrendering to the circumstances of death and the Father was reluctantly turning a deaf ear to Jesus’ request. But when I read Hebrews 5:7-9 I see a different story. “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation’ (Hebrews 5:7-9).

Notice the passage says the Father heard and answered Jesus’ request (if the Father hears, He answers; 1 John 5:14-15). When we look at the situation with an earthly and temporary perspective, it looks like the Father did not answer. But when we look at with the spiritual and eternal perspective that God sees, we see things in totally different way.

First is the reality that God the Father did deliver Jesus from death, by raising Jesus from death. “…he (David) looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He (Jesus) was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:31-33).

Before Jesus died on the cross every person (except for Elijah and Enoch) who had ever lived was captured in the cords of Sheol/Hades when they died. No one had ever escaped from it’s cords. It was a source of fear for men and women for centuries.

“The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me” (Psalm 18:5).

“…and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:15).

But God the Father did not abandon His Son to that fate. God the Father delivered Jesus from the cords of death and Hades. He empowered Jesus to triumphantly overcome the forces of darkness. “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him” (Colossians 2:15).

Jesus did the impossible; He was resurrected from the dead. He was raised in a manner that never again would He touch Death and Hades, except to throw them into the Lake of Fire.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11, Lazarus had the unfortunate problem of having to face death all over again. But Jesus was victoriously raised from the dead taking with Him the keys of Death and Hades. Having the keys of Death and Hades, He could now loosen God’s children from the effects of these two tormenting spirits.

Not only did God the Father raise Jesus from the dead, but He also highly exalted Him and gave Jesus honor and distinction like no other. Jesus was given a name that is above every other name. “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

To the degree Jesus humbled Himself, that was the degree which God the Father exalted Jesus. The reason for this awesome exaltation was the abandonment of Jesus to the will of His Father in the face of the impossible.

Jesus is for us the most awesome example of living by faith. When the obstacles of life for Him seemed impossible to face, Jesus abandoned Himself into the truth that His and our Father would cause the impossibility to become a possibility. The irresistible force of God’s will conquered the immovable objects of sin and death.

When the Lord called Paula and I to go into full-time ministry in 1986 we were involved in a successful retail grocery business, but we were personally in massive debt. It seemed like it was impossible for us to be able to do that which God was calling us to do.

I remember asking the Lord if He wanted me to work another year and try and satisfy some of the debt. But He told me to go and we went.

We packed our things and moved our small family to a place we had never been before in our lives (Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas). I remember crying as I drove the moving truck loaded with our things out of the town where I thought I would retire.

As I was fighting back the tears so that I could drive, I remember crying out, “God what am I doing?” I went on to say, “I am moving my wife and my child (Michele was not born yet) away from a secure job, out of the house we built, away from family, and away from our  ministry.” Every thing seemed like an impossibility for me as drove out of town that day.

But as looked back I can see where the impossibility of debt was removed within a matter of months. And, I see where God’s faithful hand has caused all of the craziness of our lives to be turned into good. We have watched as God has touched our lives and the lives of many other people.

But the story does not end there. In this age God is always taking us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Along with the churches and ministry that God has started, God is now telling us to build a retreat center in the mountains of Virginia. We believe this is to be place of regeneration, renewal, restoration and rest for people of all ages. Right now the reality of the retreat center looks like an impossibility.  But, I know better because I know my God.

At times this journey seems impossible. But we continually hold to the truths that God causes all things to work out for our good and that our loving Heavenly Father will accomplish that which concerns us, for His lovingkindness is everlasting (Psalm 138:8).

Suggested Response:

–As you look back on your life, can you point to things that seemed impossible at the time but where God showed up and made it a possibility? Make a list, starting with the time God intervened between you and the immovable object of your sin.  Then pray through the list, giving thanks to God for answering your prayers and confessing “that with God all things are possible.”

–What “impossible” things stand in the way of your future?  Ask the Lord if you are looking at these things from an earthly or eternal perspective.  Read and meditate on the Hebrews 5:7-9 passage and ask God to help you see the thing through his eyes.