Jesus is the Son of God

On the terrible day that Jesus was crucified on the cross, it must have tested the faith of all his disciples and followers to the core. Despite Jesus telling them several times that this was exactly what was going to happen, the reality of it just hadn't sunk in.

Why was Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah being crucified like the common criminals that hung on his left and right? Surely if he was the Son of God the angels would come and rescue him or why did he not just come down from the cross like his mockers suggested?

How terrible to not just witness Jesus' crucifixion but to have to listen to the taunts and scorn being heaped upon him by the religious leaders and passersby.

Many believers must have turned away from Jesus that day. Their faith was tested and they gave in to doubt and unbelief. By the day of Pentecost there was only 120 believers left praying. Where was everyone else? Jesus had spent three years miraculously ministering to every hopeless situation and circumstance, teaching thousands about their loving heavenly Father yet at the sight of Jesus on the cross, most abandoned him.

Even when darkness covered the earth. Even when Jesus cried out in a loud voice as he gave up his spirit which was impossible for a dying man suffocating  on a cross. Even when the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, no one expected anything more from the Son of God. That was it - all over. 

The brave Joseph of Arimathea just wanted to give him the best burial possible in his own brand new tomb. It took courage to go to Pilate to ask for the body. Having buried him he sealed the tomb to make sure no one got in and desecrated it. The faithful women wanted to make sure his body was properly embalmed either that day or after the Sabbath. Even the guards were only placed to make sure the sealed tomb could not be broken into because the religious leaders did not want the disciples faking a resurrection.

No criminal crucifixion though, no sealed tomb, no guards, no disbelieving disciples or followers could stop Jesus rising in triumph from the dead because Jesus is the Son of God. What God has purposed will happen. Jesus overcame sin and death and made a way for everyone born on the planet to come and know their loving heavenly Father and Creator - just as planned. 

Father forgive us when we lose faith in the face of difficulties that seem overwhelming. Help us to persevere and trust you because you are the Christ, the Son of the living God and nothing is impossible for you. Amen.

The joy of the cross

.. fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

I am sure we are all familiar with this well known verse and when I read it my focus has always been on persevering and running a good race like Jesus. I have never really thought before about the joy that Jesus experienced or focused on as he endured the cross. It seems impossible for Jesus to experience or anticipate joy when facing the cross.

I believe that is because we only focus on our side of the cross; sinful man saved by a perfect Saviour. Wonderful though it undoubtedly is, the perspective of the cross from God’s viewpoint is quite different.

I do not know if you have ever enjoyed a relationship or friendship that was just wonderful but then it went wrong. For some reason, the relationship was broken and you no longer enjoyed the fellowship that you once had. This can cause grief and an enormous heaviness of heart especially if the one you no longer have fellowship or relationship with is a son, daughter or other family member.

God created man and woman to be with him, to walk with him, to love and be loved by him and the relationship went wrong, it was broken.  God yearns to enjoy that level of fellowship, friendship, relationship again with Man.  God loves us; the pain of separation caused by sin must be intense. I would hate to lose relationship with any of my children or grandchildren and I would do anything to try and restore that relationship.

In some infinitesimal measure that must be how God feels.  Jesus was prepared to do anything to restore relationship with sinful man – anything – including giving up his glory, confining himself to being a man and then dying the sinful, shameful death of a criminal in order to deal with sin and its consequences once and for all. He didn't do it because he had to do; he did it for the joy of seeing fellowship restored with his precious people. 

The joy God feels in restoring relationship is intense. He knows we will be together for eternity. He can love us face to face and he knows the joy we will feel in being able to see and love him face to face forever. The joy of having us as his children overwhelms God’s heart.

Not convinced?  Look at Song of Songs 4:9, Zechariah 3:17, Psalm 17:8 (apple of his eye), Exodus 19:5 (treasured possession) to name but a few. Just imagine Jesus taking you in his arms and dancing around with you, full of joy that you are his. ‘It’s finished!’ he cries, ‘nothing can ever separate us again.’

It was the joy of restored relationship that took Jesus to the cross. I believe that with thankful hearts, God wants us to revel in that joy and  rejoice in God’s love. 

Thank you for the cross

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53: 5

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5: 21

On Good Friday, as we consider again Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, I am overwhelmed by a sense of wonder of what Jesus did for us.  I have been reading J John’s Holy Week devotional and yesterday he wrote, ‘Jesus went to a place of separation so that we might never need to be separated from God. He cried out these words of abandonment (My God, My God why have you forsaken me) precisely to ensure that his followers should never have to say them.’ Today he wrote, ‘Christ became cursed that we might be blessed, became empty so that we might become filled and became nothing that we might become something. That’s what the cross is all about’.

 Everything Jesus went through was for us. We know this but it has hit me afresh this Easter. The perfect Son of God suffered unimaginable torture, humiliation, abandonment, betrayal and crucifixion for people like you and me. That just blows my mind away.  I know what I am like. I am not sure I would have done that for me so how can perfection do that for people so imperfect, so broken, so impure?  The answer of course is love; a love so pure, so perfect, so holy that he will do anything to make sure that the object of his affection can be saved from their self imposed sin and wickedness.

We should not shy away from the horrors of the cross but look them full in the face, as far as we are able, even though it breaks our heart, and be thankful for what Jesus did.  He has prepared a wonderful place in heaven for each one of us to enjoy with him forever.  However he also has a wonderful life for each one of us to live here and it is wonderful because no matter what we go through, we will never be abandoned, forsaken or alone. The God of love is always with us.  Jesus took it all on the cross. The divine exchange is complete and all that we should have suffered for our sin has been paid for and all the perfection of Jesus and the fullness of his life is ours for eternity. 

 What can we say but thank you from the bottom of our hearts?