I'm going through Job, at the moment, in my quiet times - it's a book about suffering and renewal etc. I was thinking about the Cross. This stems from conversations I used to have with Muslims as they don't understand how God could turn His back on God, as He did with Christ at the cross.
As I pondered on Job's suffering, I thought about the suffering we can never ever understand.
Jesus is the Son of God - the One who is beloved of His Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5)
Jesus is God - the image of His Father - (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:1-3)
All throughout eternity Jesus and His Father have had close communion - we don't understand the Trinity, or not the depths of it, but we do know each person of the Trinity is an individual, but also there is a oneness as well. Each are in agreement with the other. I'm not here to discuss the Trinity, but wanted to make the point that Jesus always had communion with the Father and Holy Spirit even during His ministry, Jesus still had communion with the Father through prayer -
UNTIL the hours between 12:00-15:00.
The Human Condition:
Humanity is naturally against God - we can say we believe in Him, but do we obey Him? Do we keep ALL of His commandments? Believing and obeying are different things. Even the devil and his demons believe in God, but they are condemned because they don't obey Him.
In our disobedience we turn our backs/reject/forsake God and the only way back to Him is for that rejection to be taken by someone - well we are too weak and frail to take it on ourselves, we are also fallible, unreliable, mortal, so we can't do it.
Jesus came to earth. He is:
God: the Father needs to be propitiated. We can never hit God's standards at all. However hard we try, we fail. In and of ourselves we would get disheartened because it's a hopeless thing: sinners trying to reach the perfect 100% standard God expects! Only Jesus could reach that standard, as God!
Man: only mankind can redeem itself. Mankind sins, so only mankind can make amends, but we can't because we are sinners, weak, fallible, unreliable, double-minded etc. Jesus HAD to become a man so that salvation was complete through humanity as well as God being propitiated! For Him just to remain God would have meant God was placated to some degree, but that would still have left mankind without the sacrifice needed for full redemption!
Back to the cross:
Up until 12:00 Jesus still was in communion with His Father. He asked for the Lord to forgive [I wonder if He was looking into the future as well as His present, and asking God to forgive those who were going to be His own] (Luke 23:34)
From 12:00-15:00 - darkness covered the land - Jesus' Father had left Him, turned His back on His Son, as Jesus became the sin bearer! God forsook His Son at Calvary. The weight of our sins pressed down on Christ but even more so I would think the Father's rejection of His Son weighed more heavily upon Him! He cried out in despair at the thought of His beloved Father being silent - no angels were sent to His aid, no relief from the awful torment He had from the separation - just silence. Deathly quiet from the One whom He had been in communion with since eternity. BUT in that forsaking, rejection - Jesus was winning a FULL and COMPLETE salvation for His people - if God the Father had just offered His hand of comfort, offered words of encouragement - our salvation would have been null and void, because Jesus was our 100% complete Substitute at Calvary! God turns His back on every sinner who is unrepentant and refuses to accept His Son - who bore the weight of humanity's sins upon His body. THIS is why Jesus is the ONLY way to God.
Did Mohammed bear the sins of billions of people - of course not, did Buddha bear the sins of billions of people - no, did the gurus bear the sins of billions of people - definitely not, no other 'person' or false god is the way to the true God, Peter, speaking about Jesus in Acts 4:12 says: ..."Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to get to God and is the way of LIFE ETERNAL!
John 14:6 Jesus said to him [Thomas], “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
As I pondered on Job's suffering, I thought about the suffering we can never ever understand.
Jesus is the Son of God - the One who is beloved of His Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5)
Jesus is God - the image of His Father - (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:1-3)
All throughout eternity Jesus and His Father have had close communion - we don't understand the Trinity, or not the depths of it, but we do know each person of the Trinity is an individual, but also there is a oneness as well. Each are in agreement with the other. I'm not here to discuss the Trinity, but wanted to make the point that Jesus always had communion with the Father and Holy Spirit even during His ministry, Jesus still had communion with the Father through prayer -
UNTIL the hours between 12:00-15:00.
The Human Condition:
Humanity is naturally against God - we can say we believe in Him, but do we obey Him? Do we keep ALL of His commandments? Believing and obeying are different things. Even the devil and his demons believe in God, but they are condemned because they don't obey Him.
In our disobedience we turn our backs/reject/forsake God and the only way back to Him is for that rejection to be taken by someone - well we are too weak and frail to take it on ourselves, we are also fallible, unreliable, mortal, so we can't do it.
Jesus came to earth. He is:
God: the Father needs to be propitiated. We can never hit God's standards at all. However hard we try, we fail. In and of ourselves we would get disheartened because it's a hopeless thing: sinners trying to reach the perfect 100% standard God expects! Only Jesus could reach that standard, as God!
Man: only mankind can redeem itself. Mankind sins, so only mankind can make amends, but we can't because we are sinners, weak, fallible, unreliable, double-minded etc. Jesus HAD to become a man so that salvation was complete through humanity as well as God being propitiated! For Him just to remain God would have meant God was placated to some degree, but that would still have left mankind without the sacrifice needed for full redemption!
Back to the cross:
Up until 12:00 Jesus still was in communion with His Father. He asked for the Lord to forgive [I wonder if He was looking into the future as well as His present, and asking God to forgive those who were going to be His own] (Luke 23:34)
From 12:00-15:00 - darkness covered the land - Jesus' Father had left Him, turned His back on His Son, as Jesus became the sin bearer! God forsook His Son at Calvary. The weight of our sins pressed down on Christ but even more so I would think the Father's rejection of His Son weighed more heavily upon Him! He cried out in despair at the thought of His beloved Father being silent - no angels were sent to His aid, no relief from the awful torment He had from the separation - just silence. Deathly quiet from the One whom He had been in communion with since eternity. BUT in that forsaking, rejection - Jesus was winning a FULL and COMPLETE salvation for His people - if God the Father had just offered His hand of comfort, offered words of encouragement - our salvation would have been null and void, because Jesus was our 100% complete Substitute at Calvary! God turns His back on every sinner who is unrepentant and refuses to accept His Son - who bore the weight of humanity's sins upon His body. THIS is why Jesus is the ONLY way to God.
Did Mohammed bear the sins of billions of people - of course not, did Buddha bear the sins of billions of people - no, did the gurus bear the sins of billions of people - definitely not, no other 'person' or false god is the way to the true God, Peter, speaking about Jesus in Acts 4:12 says: ..."Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to get to God and is the way of LIFE ETERNAL!
John 14:6 Jesus said to him [Thomas], “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
