The Cross

The creation...the fall...the standards set...our inability to follow...THE CROSS

This is basically the simplest and most profound timeline of man. It started with Jesus (yep, He was there, you know that right?) and it ends with Jesus...it ends with God in the flesh on a cross, a piece of wood, a splintered oak. It ends with our sin, our punishment, casted upon a fleshly man who is fully God...

Its kinda crazy that God created this whole universe for us...for Him. We screwed up...and He fixed it! He didn't cast a magic spell, He didn't just make things perfect at the snap of a finger...no God sent himself in the image of His son...fully man, fully God...and with the most powerful name that will ever be spoken in this world...Jesus the Christ. Our redeemer! The only person who was able to provide the solution was God himself...by death...by wrath...by judgement.

Picture this...Jesus on the cross...for you, for me...He's beaten, he's tore down...people are screaming insults, blaspheming His name...patronizing Him..How do you think He felt..what do you think was going through His mind? All that pain, torment, ridicule....now imagine this, the sky darkens...not many hours ago He prayed so hard that blood came from His head, yet now He screams out, "FATHER WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME!" This was the moment...this was the moment when the pain of the cross really touched Him...the moment when the Father had to turn from his Son. This is the part where Jesus had to drink the cup that he was referring to in the garden...the cup of death, the cup of wrath, the cup of judgement on the spotless Lamb. Isaiah 53 says it pleased God to bruise Him...that cup of death, of judgement, of wrath was intended for me, for you...but it pleased God to put His Son, to put Himself on the cross...it pleased God to crush Jesus for us...thats how much He loves us! Thats where it all ends and it begins again....the resurrection of the crushed Son is our last chance. He broke the chains of sin! No longer are we slaves to sin, but servants to God. Isn't that Awesome!

We have done nothing to deserve this gift...we will never repay Jesus for His sacrifice...but we can live for Him today. We can follow where He leads, we can say what He wants us to say, we can do what He wants us to do...God wants us in His kingdom, after all, He did die for it..

"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed."

-Isaiah 53:4,5