1 John 3:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
A few weeks ago, the tornadoes that ravaged part of our state was eerily close to my house. At 3:30pm, it felt like someone had turned off the lights outside. Despite the hail, rain, thunder and lightening, you could still see. But it was dark and frightening.
Jesus was nailed to the Cross at approximately 9am. For 3 hours, He endured insults, nakedness, embarrassment, mental torture – not to mention the physical pain that pulsated through His suffocating body. But at high noon, when the sun should have been at it’s brightest – an eerie, pitch black darkness blanketed the whole earth. Can you imagine?
Do you know what this was???
God’s anger was permeating the atmosphere. His judgement was falling. Jesus was enduring the wrath of God. God had turned away from His Son for the first time ever. Do you remember Him sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane? This was what Jesus dreaded most.
Out of love for you and for me, God sent Jesus to be our substitute. He endured the full force of God’s wrath for what must have seemed like an eternity. My sins; your sins – came between Jesus and the Father. What Jesus went through is beyond our ability to imagine or describe.
We catch a glimpse into what was going on in Jesus’ heart from the writer of the 22nd Psalm:
:1 My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
:2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer…
Jesus endured hell for you and for me. When we claim Him as our sacrifice for sin, we will never have to be separated from God, because Jesus was.
At approximately 3pm – after 3 hours of total darkness and hell, Jesus asked for a drink. And with a voice that reverberates through the ages, He said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit. The price for your salvation and mine was paid in full.
Have you personally claimed Him as your only sacrifice for sin? Or are you counting on the fig leaves of religion, morality, good environmental living or the good person rule to make you right with God?
You may not love God, but He loves you. (It’s okay to be honest.) He loves you so much, that He went through hell in order to have a personal relationship with you. As with any friendship, you can only have a personal relationship by spending daily time together. Going to church once or twice a week makes for a shallow friendship – especially when the waves and tsunami’s of life pound on the shores of our life.
The study, Establishing a Vibrant Quiet Time and Prayer Time is a great how to study. Stay tuned next week for a special offer.
Have a great weekend!
I finished week 1 in your bible study last week and it has been such an encouragement already. I would encourage anyone to pick it up and begin to meet daily with the Lord.