Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
That is how much He loves us.
We studied John and noted that it parallels Genesis creation, giving
us the account of the beginning of the new creation.
In Genesis 1 and John 1 we see In the beginning.
We see reference to WORD creating.
We see references to the LIGHT.
And we even see day after day listed in which certain things were
accomplished.
Jesus is the Light!
He is the WORD that spoke forth the light in Genesis.
John gives account of the new creation.
And we read of the new creation and note that Jesus mind was on us
all the time.
It is interesting when we come to the third day in John 2 at the
wedding of Cana of Galilee.
Mary notes to Jesus that there is no wine at the wedding.
And Jesus replies to her quite strangely.
John 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.His hour was not yet come?
We find that Jesus used the term HOUR elsewhere, giving us a hint of what he was thinking about.
Mark 14:35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.In other accounts we read that Jesus prayer in Gethsemane was that the cup would be removed or passed from him.
Acts 2:13-17 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:What was the joy set before Jesus that caused him to endure the cross?
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.Wine in the Bible is representative of joy.
Then we read more indication that we were on His mind.
John 2:13-19 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.Jesus was asked by what authority did He claim right to cleanse the temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?When he saw the temple cluttered with moneychangers, His mind was on the temple of the Church His body.
Then we come to John Chapter 3 where Nicodemus talked to him about his
ministry.
Jesus turned the conversation around to speak about new birth and
birth of water and Spirit.
And He referred to the new creation using LIGHT as a point of emphasis
again.
John 3:18-20 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.And John the Baptists speaks of Jesus and indicates the scenario of the Bride and Groom, just as we find it in Genesis chapter 2 where Eve is taken from Adams side.
John 3:28-31 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I [must] decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.Jesus must increase.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.God told Adam to MULTIPLY.
In John Chapter 4 we again see that we were on His mind.
Jesus goes into Samaria and meets the woman at the well.
She had five husbands.
John 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.Like the woman with five husbands, obviously looking desperately for fulfilment in this life, people look to the five sense of their flesh to fulfill themselves.
Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.This lady came to the well at the sixth hour.John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
When the woman thought of water, Jesus thought of the living water he would give His bride.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.When The disciples thought of meat, Jesus thought of spiritual meat.
John 4:33-34 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.He had us on his mind.
That woman at the well embodied in His mind the church, His bride.
On the cross Jesus cried that He thirsted.
But it was not water he thirsted for.
He told the woman to give him water at the well.
He was hungering and thirsting for the church the bride!
We were always on his mind.
From the era before the world began, and especially after He was
incarnate and readying to go to the cross, we were on His mind!
The greatest love story to ever unfold is of the Church and Jesus
Christ.
One Easter I helped arrange a drama to present to the church.
On the flyers we used to advertize the presentation, I had the empty
tomb and the stone rolled to the side drawn on the cover.
And the cross was situated before the tomb.
The shadow that the cross cast behind and onto the rolled away stone
was in the shape of a heart.
A sinner commented to me that they did not think of the cross in
that way before.
They could not imagine a romance associated with the cross.
I explained it was the greatest romance ever.
The love of Jesus for the Church, His bride!
Praise God!
We were always on His mind!