Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

Daily Encouragement for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

30 May 2025

Reading From John 11:30-57

“Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”

—John 11:49-53

     The Pharisees, Sadducees, teachers of the Law and the Sanhedrin had figured out a way to monetize the Old Covenant and use it to manipulate people so that they maintained power and control in the Roman province of Judea.  They feared that the more people followed Jesus, the more the country would destabilize and cause the Romans to dismantle their religious system, remove them from power and rather than enjoy their nominal autonomy, they might be ruled directly from Rome.  Caiaphas thought that it would be better to kill one man, Jesus, than to risk losing everything.

     What Caiphas did not realize was that Jesus Christ would die for not only the Jews but also the Gentiles all over the world.  Wherever people hear the Word of the Lord and respond in faith they become sons and daughters of the Most High God and are adopted into His eternal family.  John writes that the Savior died to bring them together and make them one, but this did not happen in a worldly way.  There was not a reversal of the diaspora in a physical sense.  Rather, every child of God is connected to each other through the unifying Presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them.  We are one with each other and one with God.

“Heavenly Father, when I think of Your children scattered all over the world, it makes me happy to know that even though we are separated by time, distance, language barriers, political borders, and other physical hinderances, we are part of one massive, mighty family that belongs to You.  We are Your temple, Your dwelling place.  In You we live and move and have our being.  I pray that we would see greater unity in the Body of Christ as we partner to obey the Great Commandment and fulfill the Great Commission.  In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.”

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

—Romans 1:16