Jesus:
"Do you think I
cannot call on My Father, and he will at once put at My disposal more
than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be
fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" Matthew 26:53
The temptation to end it all, give up the plan of salvation, was
very great for Jesus. He sweat great drops of blood due to the agony He
was about to face. He could easily have just gone back home to the
Father and Holy Spirit. Yet He went through with it for two reasons: He
had said He was going to save the world in this manner and He never
breaks a promise and He simply loves us that much for some strange
reason. We aren't worth it. He created us and has every right to do
with us as He well pleases, just as I have the right to rip apart a
dress I just made or unravel a sweater I just crocheted. I made it, so
it is mine to do with as I choose. He made us and it is His right to do
with us as He pleases. He was pleased to suffer and die for us, even
though it brought greater agony to Him than anything we ever have or
ever will experience here on earth. He made sure of that. He didn't want it easily
said that He doesn't know what we're going through.
There are three persons in the Godhead; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
First the Father agonized because we gave control of our existence to
Satan at the fall. (No one can say it was Eve's fault, because at that
time she wasn't Eve. She was woman and combined with man she was Adam. God considered them so much one creation that He called them
Adam. In fact, they were so much one in thought that they were
together all the time, even during the temptation. Woman took of the
fruit and gave some to man and they both ate of it. After the fall, man
named woman Eve. The separation and distinction between the two had
begun.) He immediately had a plan, because He had seen what we would do
and gave the solution. First, He sacrificed an animal to cover them and
their sin. Next, He gave the prophecy of what the complete answer to
the problem would be as is told in the title of this chapter: Jesus.
Next the Son had to suffer. His job was to be the ultimate sacrifice.
He would give up His kingdom in heaven to take back the kingdom of
earth. In order to do so He had to become human. So He was born of a
virgin, Mary, spoken into human form by the Father and breathed into by
the Holy Spirit. His life was His own, He was still God, yet He was
human as well and felt everything we do. He was tempted, but refused to
give in to it. He received physical pain, yet refused to end His
journey because of it. He experienced the agony of hell by being
totally separated from His Father on the cross when He said, "My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?" His Father had to turn His back on Him
when He became our sin. At that moment Jesus experienced hell, for
what is hell but total separation from God. Unimaginable as it is,
where God is not, there is nothing but horror, fear, anxiety, pain and
suffering. Hope, love, joy or anything else that is good is not there. Thank God
that one day this will be thrown into the Lake of Fire never to be
released again. Praise God He did not have to remain there for long.
He declared, "It is finished," gave His Spirit into the Father's hands
and died. Three days later He rose again, proving that life after death
is not just a glib promise made by God, but a reality. When He left,
He gave us His Holy Spirit - the Third Person of the Triune God.
Now it is this person Who suffers. "And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.
Remember, He has identified you as His own, guaranteeing that you will
be saved on the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30 New Living Translation
We
grieve the Holy Spirit every time we sin, so we can be assured that we
grieve Him daily at the very least, but more likely hourly. So to say
that God cannot know what we are going through or He wouldn't allow it
is simply nonsense in my book. He understands so thoroughly that He has
come to live in us through His Holy Spirit in order to help us get
through any and all that occurs in our lives, because He knows we cannot
succeed without Him.
Tim Keller writes "If we again ask the question, "Why does God
allow evil and suffering to continue?" and we look at the cross of
Jesus, we still do not know what the answer is. However, we know what
the answer isn't. It can't be that He doesn't love us. It can't be
that He is indifferent or detached from our condition. God takes our
misery and suffering so seriously that he was willing to take it
on Himself....So, if we embrace the Christian teaching that Jesus is God
and that he went to the Cross, then we have deep consolation and
strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth."
And then Randy Alcorn makes an observation that has been in my heart for
the lost since I was saved, "If you hate suffering, does it make sense
to choose eternal suffering when God has already suffered so much to
deliver you from it?"
I do not know why He loves me so much, but I am ever grateful that He
does. I pray that you are as well. It changed my heart attitude from
one of "I wish I hadn't got caught," to one of "thank You for catching
me in the act and rescuing me from it."
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