Mark 15:29-30
"And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, 'Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!'"
I was spending time today reading through the last week of Jesus' life on earth. While reading this passage really struck me. These people were mocking Jesus and yelling at him to bring himself down from the cross if he was truly the son of God. I have thought before to myself, "Why didn't Jesus just come down from the cross to shut those people up and display His power?" Indeed he would have shown His power over them and over some nails and a cross. He would have shut them up and shown himself to be divine.
But then I thought about it more today as I was reading. What is a display of greater power, coming down from a cross, or resurrecting from a grave after being dead for three days and shut up in a tomb in a rock? In resurrecting from the dead, Jesus not only defeated the efforts of people to kill him but he defeated death! He defeated the grave! He defeated sin! In rising from the dead, Jesus showed himself to possess an infinitely greater power than what it would have taken to come down from the cross. He showed himself to possess the power of God alone, and therefore proved his claim to be the Son of God and the Word in the flesh.
Then i kept thinking. What else would have been different if Jesus would have just came down from the cross instead of dying and resurrecting? Well, simply put, God's love would not be infinite. Because Jesus died and didn't "almost die," he showed the ultimate measure of love, a love like no other, a love with no end. And, without dying, there can be no resurrection, and without the resurrection, we are still under the power of sin. The gospel is not good news without the resurrection.
In God's perfect plan and love for us, his infinite power and love meet at the cross. The Lord humbled himself to be crucified innocently by sinners who mocked and spat on him, who rejected him. All because of His infinite and matchless love. Romans 5:8 says, " but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus died once for all, for the sins of the whole world for all of time. Every sin paid for, not one uncovered by His blood. We didn't love him so then he died for our sins, He died in the midst of our sin and rebellion. In the midst of our rejection of Him. To die for an enemy is a love that cannot be explained.
We don't have to explain God's love for us, we simply just have to accept it freely. Will you accept freely the love that is offered to you? Will you tell everyone about the infinite love that is offered to them? Remember Christ died for the world, not just for a few. Christ's resurrection gives us power over the world. We should not be afraid of the world. We should pray as Paul did in Ephesians chapter 6, "... that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.," that is the gospel.
I hope as Easter approaches, you would meditate on what it is we are celebrating. We are not just celebrating our sins being forgiven, we are celebrating the attributes of God. We are celebrating our eternal communion with our creator and the creator of the world! We are celebrating the fact that God is who he says he is! We are celebrating that we have an unshakeable hope! We are celebrating the victory, the victory that we will celebrate for all of eternity! THE VICTORY OF OUR GOD!
"Love has come, Your love has won!"
- lyric from White Flag on the Passion White Flag Album released march, 2012
"And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, 'Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!'"
I was spending time today reading through the last week of Jesus' life on earth. While reading this passage really struck me. These people were mocking Jesus and yelling at him to bring himself down from the cross if he was truly the son of God. I have thought before to myself, "Why didn't Jesus just come down from the cross to shut those people up and display His power?" Indeed he would have shown His power over them and over some nails and a cross. He would have shut them up and shown himself to be divine.
But then I thought about it more today as I was reading. What is a display of greater power, coming down from a cross, or resurrecting from a grave after being dead for three days and shut up in a tomb in a rock? In resurrecting from the dead, Jesus not only defeated the efforts of people to kill him but he defeated death! He defeated the grave! He defeated sin! In rising from the dead, Jesus showed himself to possess an infinitely greater power than what it would have taken to come down from the cross. He showed himself to possess the power of God alone, and therefore proved his claim to be the Son of God and the Word in the flesh.
Then i kept thinking. What else would have been different if Jesus would have just came down from the cross instead of dying and resurrecting? Well, simply put, God's love would not be infinite. Because Jesus died and didn't "almost die," he showed the ultimate measure of love, a love like no other, a love with no end. And, without dying, there can be no resurrection, and without the resurrection, we are still under the power of sin. The gospel is not good news without the resurrection.
In God's perfect plan and love for us, his infinite power and love meet at the cross. The Lord humbled himself to be crucified innocently by sinners who mocked and spat on him, who rejected him. All because of His infinite and matchless love. Romans 5:8 says, " but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus died once for all, for the sins of the whole world for all of time. Every sin paid for, not one uncovered by His blood. We didn't love him so then he died for our sins, He died in the midst of our sin and rebellion. In the midst of our rejection of Him. To die for an enemy is a love that cannot be explained.
We don't have to explain God's love for us, we simply just have to accept it freely. Will you accept freely the love that is offered to you? Will you tell everyone about the infinite love that is offered to them? Remember Christ died for the world, not just for a few. Christ's resurrection gives us power over the world. We should not be afraid of the world. We should pray as Paul did in Ephesians chapter 6, "... that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.," that is the gospel.
I hope as Easter approaches, you would meditate on what it is we are celebrating. We are not just celebrating our sins being forgiven, we are celebrating the attributes of God. We are celebrating our eternal communion with our creator and the creator of the world! We are celebrating the fact that God is who he says he is! We are celebrating that we have an unshakeable hope! We are celebrating the victory, the victory that we will celebrate for all of eternity! THE VICTORY OF OUR GOD!
"Love has come, Your love has won!"
- lyric from White Flag on the Passion White Flag Album released march, 2012