No climax in Ministry must attract my heart, except a fulfilment of God’s mark for calling me. Such high points may be points of personal popularity; some great achievements; or a great applause from the crowd. Once it is not God’s mark for my life, it can be nothing but false climax, designed by my adversary to rob me of my crown.
Fake climax confronts everyone, set apart for something crucial by God. Many fell headlong for it, not suspecting that the real climax of their ministry was not yet at such points. Many wrote books, celebrated anniversaries, sat down to count past exploits, made monument of such climaxes, knowing not that the real victory, the real crown, the real glory lay elsewhere.
Jesus - my LORD and Master had to push His way through this upsurge of several false glories, in order to fulfil God’s mandate on His life.
Six days to Passover; six days to the ultimate of His call; six days to the final triumph over sin, death, and Satan - on the cross; the crowd which heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took palm fronds and went forth to meet Him, crying,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the LORD!”
It took grace for my Master to keep on track. He shunned the songs and the accolades of men, and went straight for the commission – death on the cross!
The Hosanna crowd of six days past, were the same crowd that later condemned Him with
“Away with him! Crucify him!”
What a trial of commitment!
What a quiet luring away from the eternal purpose of God! What a temptation to climb on the applause of the crowd and be led away into premature but vain glory rather than climb on the cross for our deliverance!
Greeks also came saying,
“Sir, we would see Jesus”.
He went international: other nations had sent an emissary to seek Jesus. The wisemen of Greece also sought to see Him. It looked like the climax of His ministry, it was a false climax. Any climax that does not allow a man to hit the mark of God’s calling on his life is a camouflage. It is a temptation.
One’s climax may never be the point of “loud shouts and public glare”. For Jesus, it was at Gethsemane where He yielded completely to God and drank that “cup” on our behalf.
Yet six days to that, there was a false climax set for my LORD! It was biblical, the fulfilment of a prophecy. Yet it was not God’s mark for Him.
Andrew and Philip - close confidants of my LORD excitedly came with “good news”:
“Sir, even men from Greece are seeking You now... all men are running around for You now; Men of prominence, men of substance are joining our team now...”
Look at the answer my LORD gave them,
“The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified... Verily, verily I say unto you... Except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abideth alone; but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he thathateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” - John 12:23-25
What a firm answer! He spoke without any ambiguity:
“The hour is come, if I want to fly upon human glory; if I want to be independent of my father; if I want to make a name for myself and be known; if I want to step into fame, but worldly fame... the opportunity is here! But, there is yet another sober fact!
“Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone!”
There is no reaping without sowing!
No resurrection without a burial; no glory without the cross, except it be a vain glory I am looking for!
Pharisees and Scribes had already said,
“Perceive ye, how ye prevail nothing; behold the world is gone after him?” - John 12:19
Yet Jesus did not see the crowd at Jerusalem as “all men”!
The Pharisees said,
“The whole world has gone after him”; yet it was only the crowd of Jerusalem...
Others said “all men”, “all the world”.
My Lord saw it as fake, a mirage. He knew and declared what God’s mark is:
“And I if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.”
John 12:32
Lifted up from the earth and placed on the cross to die; then and only then will I draw (compel, attract, magnetize and hook) all men unto me... Authentic authority over all men will only come after His cross.
All shouting and clapping; crowning and coronations before then are a false climax. He ran away and hid Himself that He may reach the real climax of His call.
Popularity that most people reckon with is a mere shadow of what should have been, had we agreed to follow the LORD unto Golgotha - the place of death...
Help me dear Lord not to settle on this side with my contemporaries, comparing ourselves with ourselves; let me press on to the mark of Your high calling, apprehending that for which heaven has apprehended me and let me live to accomplish this in this age.