God's irrefutable will

My quiet time this morning caused me to meditate on John 19v31 which reads as follows:

'Now it was the day of preparation, and th enext day was to be
a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies to
be left on the crosses during the sabbath, they asked Pilate to

have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.'
-- John 19v31 --

As I read this verse, I was struck by air that the Jewish leaders must have been feeling in light of Jesus being on the cross. They would most likely have been congradulating themselves on the successful dealing-away-with of person who they'd discounted as being a troublemaker, someone who saught to break their hold on the people. Yet, in the midst of this, they had a special Sabbath to prepare for and as such their customs and laws brought them to order the bodies to be taken down. Little did they know that God was using this to prove that, yet again, Jesus had fulfilled another of the prophesies, for we find John quotes (from the old testament), shortly after this in 19v36:

'...Not one of his bones will be broken.'
-- John 19v36 --

And true to God's promises from way back in the Old Testament, none of Jesus bones were broken. Here's the good bit tho! Had the Jews not ordered the people on the cross taken down early, the other prisoners would not have had their bones broken, and the guards would not have noted Jesus to already be dead.

Thus we find, although the Jews had saught to kill and discredit Jesus, their ordering the guards to finish the bodies led to Jesus fulfilling a prophecy.

I was so encouraged by this, to be reminded that whatever the plans of man, whether good or evil, they cannot contradict or halt the fulfilling of God's promises. Taking this to heart helps us to realise that God's promises to us -- both from the Bible, and personal ones he's shared with us -- WILL come to pass. What we need, is patienc hearts that are faithful to trust him.