Christ’s Redeeming Love | Part 1
Today is Good Friday.
It also marks the beginning of a three-post series I’ll be doing, one today, one tomorrow, and one on Sunday, tracing the ultimate redeeming love of Christ—His crucifixion, the terrible waiting feeling the apostles must have felt The Day After, and concluding with His triumphant resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ is the central theme of Christianity—the Hebrew Scriptures begin with the fall of humanity, the need for a redeemer, and the prophecies through God’s messengers of the hope that is to come. The New Testament begins with connecting Christ’s human lineage back to Abraham, and then to David. He is the promised Saviour of humanity. And you know what? He didn’t need to die. God didn’t need to save us. But He loved us too much, despite our sin, despite everything, to let us sink back so hopelessly into sin. And so He didn’t. He sent a Saviour—His Own beloved Son.
“When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.”
Isaiah 53: 11
Sometimes in Christian circles we tend to celebrate Christmas in a grander, more extravagant way than Easter. And that’s okay, because none of this needs extravagance. But Christmas—Christ’s birth—incredible as it is, it’s just the beginning.
He came into the world to redeem His people.
He bore all the sins of the world—the sins of the entire world—upon His shoulders.
And it’s because of his anguish that we can even live and do the things we take for granted every day. We can’t even imagine how much He suffered, not only physically but also spiritually.
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This cry, this terrible tragic redeeming cry, offers us only a microscopic glance into what it must be like to know the wrath of God. Yet Christ took it on, took on the anguish, so that we didn’t have to.
So that we didn’t have to.
His love for us is so great that He suffered beyond our worst imaginings to save us. That is redemption. That is love. And because he lay dying on that cross, crucified in body and soul, all we have to do to join Him in Paradise someday is to say, like the thief on the cross, “I believe.”
I believe.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30
Beautifully written!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :D
DeleteWhat a Savior! ❤
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
DeleteThank you for this beautiful post! I think it's so powerful to think of the fact you mention that not only did Jesus take on so much physical suffering for us; He also took on all the mental and spiritual suffering that we suffer...but that we suffer deservedly, because we sin! He took it on purely out of love for every one of us - even though, as St. Paul says, we were His enemies - MADE ourselves His enemies. But He loved us anyway, and suffered for us knowing that we often wouldn't appreciate His love.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. Thank you so much for commenting!
DeleteWhoops...that was me, Lizzie. Must have forgotten to sign my name :P
DeleteThat’s totally fine. :)
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