The Bible says the way to heaven is through Jesus, the Christ. Why? What was so different or special about this man? Since God is perfect, holy and righteous, he doesn’t want to co-exist with sin. Yet, we have all sinned and fallen short of his glory. The punishment for sinning, we are told, is death. Without a Savior, all humanity is doomed. BUT, God loves us. It broke his heart to see us live for even a few moments in time without hope of a continual existence with him.
In the first chapter of John we are told Jesus was originally part of the godhead. He was there when God said; Let us make man in our image… Yet, he was willing to give up his deity and permitted himself to take on human form with flesh and bone. He was born of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit. In the beginning we also see the Holy Spirit as part of the godhead in the very 1st verse of the Bible; it says he was hovering over the waters. And so we have the triune God. Jesus lived his life upon this earth without sin; setting us an example of the ways of God. As he grew into maturity, he became aware of his relationship to God and his purpose. At the young age of thirty-three, he willingly gave his life to rescue humanity from their fate. He had no sin of his own to deserve the punishment of death. Originally being part of the god-head and carrying the DNA of God within him, for all children carry the DNA of their fathers, his life was worth more than all peoples together – who ever lived or will live.
Yet Jesus was arrested and condemned by jealous foes. He was beaten mercilessly until unrecognizable and sentenced to death by being nailed to a cross. In this dark hour, God placed the sins of the world on this young man’s shoulders. For three hours as he hung on the cross awaiting his last breath, the sky darkened turning shades of black and deep blue, the color of his many bruises. Blood trickled and ran from his wounds as he became the sacrificial lamb for the world. Death approached and his coat of righteousness was stripped away, being replaced by all the ugliness, evil, malicious wrongdoings of all mankind.
God watched from heaven, then looked away and turned his back on the son he loved. His son cried out; why have you forsaken me? But now he was covered in the sins of the world. With his last breath he uttered the words – it is finished. He had completed his purpose. Humanity had been set free from the sins that enslaved them. They were freed from the penalty of those sins. He draws us to himself as we come to be washed in his blood. Cleansed, we are covered with his righteousness.
But the story does not end here. After mourning the death of Jesus for three days, those who had known him and those who had loved him, discovered him walking the streets once more. The power of God restored life to his dead body and he was resurrected back to life. After remaining on the earth another forty days, his closest friends then watched him ascend into the sky and disappear through the clouds as he returned to his father and first abode in heaven.
Fiction? No – reality; witnessed and documented by many in the pages of history. The beginning is fascinating but the ending is staggering. Jesus became our hero, our Savior, our eternal high priest; interceding for us day and night. We can receive the free gift of forgiveness for our sins and life everlasting with God, when we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, in his death and resurrection, and accept the sacrifice he made for us. When we do this God said we will be called his children and heir with his son to all that is his.
A young boy went to God and asked for this gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus. An elderly woman, hearing of this event, approached the young boy asking what he could have done at such a young age that would require forgiveness. He answered; the Bible says we are to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind - and I didn’t do that. Without a word she turned and walked away. Take time to remember the tremendous love God had for mankind to willingly give the life of his son for us. Take time to remember the deep love Jesus had for mankind to willingly do the will of his father by sacrificing his life for ours. Salvation, the good news, isn’t about how good we are or which church we belong to, but it is about God’s mercy, love and sacrifice for us.
A man’s son was murdered. The one who did this terrible crime was found and put in prison. The father of the victim went to see his son’s killer. The father said to him; I forgive you, and this father even paid his bail freeing him from prison. The father then said, now I will treat you as my own son and take care of you. Incredible you say? This is what God’s love did for us! In reality, it was our sins that killed Jesus, the Son of God. Yet God comes to us and offers us forgiveness, letting the blood of his son be the payment for this deed, freeing us to live. Then he accepts us as his own children.
Jesus had led a life of righteousness. He healed all who came to him. He expounded the ways of a loving God, summarizing the Ten Commandments with the words; love God and love others. It is said that only a portion of the miracles he preformed were recorded. And these were recorded for our benefit, that we might believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we would receive life in his name. But as Jesus stressed the ways of God rather than traditions set up by man, toes were stepped on and some became offended. As a result, he was rejected and despised. He was slandered and hated. He was beaten and illegally tried and sentenced to a criminal’s death. Jesus allowed himself to be captured and wrongly represented. He willingly hung on a cross to take the punishment of death for our sins upon himself. He had to bear seeing his mother and his most faithful friends watching his life slip away at the foot of his cross, until he took his last breath. It was this man’s love that caused him to endure this atrocity. Now he lives again and is called, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Truly, it is time to celebrate.
By Nancy L. Harry Eagles Rest Ministries www.e-eaglesrest.com
