Ponder the Preposition: Before

God Goes Before You

Peter’s threefold denial of Jesus must have left him decimated.  How forlorn and hopeless he must have felt!

But the resurrected Jesus didn’t want Peter to live in this defeated state.  Consequently, he devised a strategy to restore him.  And this plan was rooted in the preposition before.

On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to Jesus’s tomb.  There they saw a young man, an angel, sitting outside the empty tomb.  He informed the two women that Jesus was not there but had risen from the dead.

The angel then urged the two Marys to go and tell the disciples about Jesus’s resurrection.  And he gave this specific instruction: “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee” (Mark 16:7).

First, notice that the angel singled out Peter to hear this good news.  He wanted to make sure that the one who felt the most regret and despair would especially know that Jesus went before him and desired to restore his soul.

Next, note the angel said Jesus would go before all the disciples to Galilee.  He wanted to make sure that they all knew, especially Peter, that upon their arrival in Galilee, Jesus would already be there waiting for them.

What an extraordinary faith booster for all of Jesus’s disciples!  At every point in life, before we take the next step, Jesus is already there waiting for us.  No matter where we may go, Jesus has gone before us.  Jesus has gone before the pandemic we are living through. 

How many of our anxieties would abate, even cease, if we truly believed Jesus goes before us in all of life’s circumstances?  That he is waiting for us in our next hour?  Our tomorrows?  Our upcoming weeks?

Trust that Jesus goes before you.