AN AMAZING INVITATION

 

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

               I continue to reflect upon the amazing act of love demonstrated by Christ’s death on the cross. Jesus foreshadowed it to His disciples as He was preparing them for His departure. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 (NIV)

               Often, when we think about the crucifixion, we focus on Jesus’ suffering on our behalf. It is right for us to recognize that. But there is more to the cross than just suffering. The cross was Jesus’ way of demonstrating the depth of His love for us.

               On the surface it looks like Jesus was a helpless victim of cruel circumstances, but it was not. It was actually an intentional act of love on Jesus’ part.

               Jesus went to the cross voluntarily and willingly. He could have chosen another way, he could have opted out, but He chose the cross for us. Jesus made it clear that no one was forcing the cross upon Him.  ^“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:17-18 (NIV)

               Jesus voluntarily went to the cross to atone for our sin. Jesus willingly took upon Himself the burden of our sin. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (NIV) We had an enormous spiritual debt that we had no way of repaying. Jesus, who had no debt, paid the price for us. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

               At the end of both Matthew and Mark’s accounts of Jesus’ death on the cross there is a curious statement. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:38 (NIV) This simple statement is really both significant and amazing. The curtain referred to was the curtain in the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. The Holy of Holies represented the very presence of God. It was forbidden for anyone to enter there except for the High Priest. He was allowed to enter once a year on the Day of Atonement to offer an atoning sacrifice for the people’s sins.

               When Jesus died on the cross, God Himself tore that curtain in two, from top to bottom. He opened the way for us to enter into His very presence. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice that cleared to way for us to encounter God face to face. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)

               We have been offered an amazing gift. We have been invited to encounter God personally. Every religion on earth keeps God at a distance; unapproachable, unknowable. Jesus changed that. Jesus opened the way for us to know and be known by God. All we have to do is walk through the curtain by faith; to fully trust that what Jesus did on the cross was enough. To fully believe in the greatest act of love every made.

John 1:10-13 (NIV)
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

 

               While Jesus was on the cross, He cried out in a loud voice, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was cry of desperation, but it was also a cry of hope. Jesus’ words come from the first verse of Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is an amazing Psalm because it clearly depicts Jesus’ death on the cross. But it also proclaims the hope we can have even in the face of despair.

Psalms 22:1-31 (NIV)
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, by night, and am not silent.
³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
⁸ "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."
⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
¹² Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
¹⁹ But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
²² I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied; they who seek the LORD will praise him-- may your hearts live forever!
²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations.
²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-- those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn-- for he has done it.