Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Most of us – probably all of us – are fully aware of the horror and inhumanity of crucifixion. We have read about, heard sermons about, and possibly seen cinematic depictions of this most cruel form of execution. The pounding pain and the gruesome gore of our Savior’s Cross are not the worst aspects of His death, though. Even worse is His Father-forsaken cry of Matthew 27:46: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” This sorrowful lament speaks of the separation that each one of us deserves because of our sin. However, remarkably, these sins – all of them – were eternally paid for by our Lord. Jesus was nailed to the Cross, but He also dealt with sin “and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14). This Biblical imagery is powerful: just as Jesus died, so are our sins put to death. In one sense, Jesus was alone on the Cross, but in another sense, our sins were right there. Jesus thus fulfilled Isaiah 38:17c: “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” Such sacrificial love can only be divine.