Sunday, April 29
Studying the supreme sacrifice of Christ does so much to prepare believers for the end time. Often humans look to the goal ahead of them, and that makes sense. But it is also good to realize that the goal is behind them. We speak of Calvary. The goal, reached here by Jesus for us, is irreversible, final, and gives certainty to the goal ahead, as well.
Read Romans 8:3, 1 Timothy 1:17, 6:16, 1 Corinthians 15:53. Why did God send His Son into the world?
God sent Christ to be a sin offering, in order to condemn sin in the flesh. What does this mean? As an immortal Being, Christ could not die. Therefore, the Lord became a human, taking our mortality upon Himself so that, indeed, He could die as our substitute.
Though divine, and though in nature God, Jesus took on “human likeness”, and He humbled Himself “by becoming obedient to death” on the cross (Philippians 2:6-8, NIV) . In a way known only to God, the divinity of Christ did not die when Jesus died on the cross. In some way beyond human comprehension, the divinity of Jesus was quiescent during the nine months in the womb and in the days in the tomb, and Jesus never used it to aid His humanity during His life and ministry here.
Read Luke 9:22. What does this tell us about the intentionality of Christ’s death?
Christ was born to die. We can imagine that there was never a moment in eternity when He was free from thoughts of the mocking, the flogging, the beatings, and the heart-breaking crucifixion that He would face. This is unparalleled love, never witnessed before and not fully understood.
What can we humans do in the face of this kind of love but fall down and worship in faith and obedience? What does the reality of the cross tell us about the worthlessness of human merit?
