What was the purpose for this SUFFERING, why did His life NEED to be this way?
Clothed in flesh, born as a man...Yes.
Tempted in every way...Yes.
Live in perfect obedience...Yes.
Died on our behalf...Yes.
But why that TYPE of life?
Born in filth, having to be laid in a feeding trough.
Having to flee and living as refugees.
As an adult, no home or place to lay His head.
Exhausting journeys and taxing crowds.
Constantly challenged and conspired against.
Abruptly arrested, falsely accused, abused, tortured, ridiculed...
But why that TYPE of death?
The most hideous kind of execution, which inflicts maximum anguish.
Scripture tells us that "Every action must be motivated by Love, or else it is useless... an anathema to God." - 1 Corinthians 13:3
Jesus willingly came knowing every aspect of His journey.
The Father willing sent His Son knowing exactly what He would experience.
What is the ASPECT of being despised and rejected, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and of becoming a "suffering servant" that is Love motivated?
What aspect of "Being the LORD's will to crush Him and put Him to grief" that is Love motivated?
YES... Jesus's sacrificial death was, is, and always will be, the greatest act of Love ever displayed.
God so loved the world that He sent His Son, and Christ so loved us that He willingly came and died for our redemption.
Jesus had proclaimed, "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." - John 15:13
But were all these other factors (undesired, despised, sorrow, grief) ALSO an atonement (payment) for our sins?
KEYS : Understanding Obedience and Love
"Though He was God's Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered". - Hebrews 5:8
"And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Philippians 2:8
OBEDIENCE is righteousness, DISOBEDIENCE is sin.
Jesus was obedient to all of God's commands and decrees, which all originate and flow from, "You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." - Deuteronomy 6:5
Jesus kept the Great Command.
PERFECT LOVE is sacrificial; taking what you have and using it to bless another who is in NEED. God is Love, and literally everything that we are and have is from God (the Source) and for us (the recipient). God blesses us (loves us) and we in turn are to bless (love) others.
"We love because God first loved us". - 1 John 4:19
Jesus loves us.
Our dilemma... how do we perfectly love a God who needs absolutely nothing?
How did Jesus keep the Great Command? By loving God through loving others!
"Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." - John 15:13
What was mankind's NEED, that God (Father and Son) sacrificially met through the grief and suffering displayed throughout Jesus's life; the very lifestyle that endowed Him forever with the TITLE of being "The Christ"?
Mankind was given the ability to reason and discern. God provided overwhelming evidence throughout Creation for His existence; information, complexity, and design, all demand an Intelligent Source... a Creator.
God gave us Holy Scripture which displays overwhelming evidence of a Divine origin.
Within those pages, God provides examples, parables, and prototypes; all to engage our intellect and understanding, much as a parent would use a "picture book" to engage a young child's mind.
Yet humanity continued to misinterpret and misunderstand.
Mankind needed a MODEL, someone to SHOW us what obedience looks like.
Jesus provided our example, and He demonstrated what He later would command of those who would follow Him... How to receive God's love in faith, how to love God through loving others, and what DENYING SELF looked like.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." - John 13:34
"If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." - Matthew 16:24
Being clothed in flesh, made lower than the angels...
Being born in poverty and made a refugee...
Every appeal of Satan in the wilderness...
Being a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief...
Being a servant to many...
Being maligned and suffering abuse...
Anguish, pain, torcher, and even crucifixion...
ALL appealed to and were temptations for Jesus to consider "self" above the needs of others.
Being a "suffering Servant acquainted with grief" demonstrated for us what HOLY LOVE looked like (from God, through Christ, to others, despite Self).
To what EXTENT would the Son of God deny Himself for the sake of "Loving Others"?
God the Father FAITHFULLY (as promised) provided for Him, and Jesus FAITHFULLY (and obediently) loved God, with all that He had (heart, soul, mind, strength), through loving others... PERFECTLY.
Every sorrow Jesus experienced, every injustice He endured, and His becoming a servant to many, ALL were to teach and show us how to "Deny self, take up our cross, and follow Him."
Jesus provided the preeminent example of Faith and Love, by laying down His life for us...
from Conception to Resurrection.
Next article: "The Leaven of Self"
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