Sometimes...

Sometimes, I just have to stop and think about it.

Because it's the most amazing thing that has ever been done on the face of the earth.

Do you already know what I'm talking about? 

Consider for just a second if you don't: I'm thinking about the one thing that was done on the earth that clearly surpasses any action taken by any person on the planet in history. 

Have you got it yet?





Yes.

Approximately 1983 years ago, a Man called Jesus of Nazareth, immaculately born to a virgin mother and conceived by the Holy Spirit, fully man and fully God, gave His life willingly to the unmitigated torture inflicted by the Roman government at the insistence of the ruling body of the Jewish faith in Jerusalem, and then gave Himself up to be crucified by those same men.

When He lived, He lived a life without sin, although He experienced temptation as all men did. For 33 years, He shared God's message of love and justice, of obedience and reward and punishment and family. For this, He was praised and followed by the masses who recognized their Messiah, and chased and threatened by those too close-minded to truly see Him.

And then at the end, at the time of His choosing, He gave Himself up. But the more important fact was that He accepted a burden beyond what any normal man could have carried, a burden which for the Man Who did not know sin must have been even more difficult to bear: The entirety of all the sins of mankind were placed upon Him, to bear the punishment which would be unknowingly inflicted upon Him. 

He was lashed thirty-nine times with a whip which had barbs on each of its nine tails. His flesh was ripped off at each stroke. Many believe He was supernaturally held together following a beating that should have killed Him. The crown of thorns was thrust upon His Head in mockery, and He was sent to Calvary, to the hill called Golgotha, where nails were pounded through His wrists and He was propped up on the cross between two criminals and left to die. 

All of that is heinous. But men have suffered before, and since. Why was His suffering any more notable?

Because of its purpose.

The punishment that Jesus Christ endured that Friday was not meant for Him. He deserved no punishment, and both the Roman Pilate and the Pharisees knew it. Pilate washed his hands of the ordeal, choosing not to get involved for fear of an uprising, and the Jewish leadership wanted Jesus dead not as a criminal but as a threat to their positions. Whatever His supposed "blasphemy" might be was immaterial to them: they wanted Him dead, and they got their wish.

Satan wanted Him dead, and he got his wish, too.

The punishment that Jesus Christ endured was never meant for Him. It was meant for us. 

Sin comes with a penalty. Because we have all sinned, we all have a penalty to pay. As a God of justice, He could not forego that penalty. But as a God of love, He desperately wanted us to forego that penalty. How could He cover both wishes? Being God, He found a way - the only way possible.

He bore the penalty Himself, through His Son - part of the Holy Trinity, part of Himself, part of God.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior, bore our punishment so that we could be accepted into Heaven, the Kingdom of God, having had our penalty paid, our bail covered. 

He didn't HAVE to. He did it out of love for every one of us. Justice had to be served, but He voluntarily paid the price for every one of us. 

Is there anyone whom you would suffer and die for? Jesus did it for every human being who ever lived,...IF they are willing to accept His gift. 

Imagine for a second - the person you love is about to be punished by death and sent to Hell as payment for their sins. You volunteer to take that punishment for him/her... and he/she refuses to accept your punishment as their payment. So despite your accepting their punishment, they are still going to die and go to Hell! How would you feel? 

The same way Jesus must feel, every time a non-Believer chooses not to accept His gift of salvation.

It's the most amazing thing in history - Jesus suffered and died specifically so we could use His payment for our ticket to Heaven. And yet many people - the majority of people, in fact - simply refuse to accept that punishment He endured as payment for our crimes against God. For some reason, perhaps because they don't believe He really did pay their penalty, or that He could pay their penalty, or that they even have a penalty, they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. 

Do you?