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Those who have doubt of Jesus’ deity need only consider Jesus’
death to have their questions challenged. The circumstances surrounding
His death are remarkable. Consider that throughout His ministry
He consistently predicted His death, even to the point of describing
the method (the Roman cross) and the time (the Hebrew Passover).
Consider that He went to His death willingly even though He could
have avoided it at many points along the way. Consider the words
He spoke from the cross, nails piercing His body, the crowd ridiculing
His apparent failure, death mere minutes away. Looking over the
people upon that hill He calls upon His Father to forgive them.
Even now, in the final minutes of life, His character is that of
love, His attitude one of concern for His fellow man. Who among
us could exhibit such selflessness and even if one of us were able
would it be so effective as the selflessness of Jesus?
Consider also the fact of His resurrection, for fact it must be.
No body was ever provided save one alive. No adequate reason is
ever given, in any history of the time, for the persistent belief
among the followers of Jesus that His death was temporary. Excuse
is given that the power of the Church over the centuries has sought
out and demolished any such evidence but if that were so, if Jesus
resurrection were a lie why has it continued to outlive all who
believe it and for two hundred centuries has remained an undisputed
truth. Given the actuality of His resurrection all question of His
deity must be thrown aside. While others have returned to life no
other has ever spontaneously enjoyed such a return. While others
have returned to life they have also returned to death. Jesus’
return to life is a return to unending life. His followers did not
see Him die but saw Him taken into heaven with the promise of His
return. His life continues to this day.
He took my sins away.
He paid the debt that I could not pay and still enjoy the benefit
of paying it, if I had been able to pay the debt at all. The debt
that Jesus paid was the punishment for my sin. The punishment for
my sin was death. Had I been the one punished death would have removed
from me all possibility of living to enjoy the consequence of the
payment of my debt. In other words I could not have done for myself
what Jesus did for me for not only did the debt have to be paid,
and that debt was death, but the power of death itself had to be
broken so that those whose debt had been paid could enjoy the blessing
of a debt free life.
Luke 23:34 – Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they do.
For me the single most astounding facet of Jesus’ character
is His capacity to forgive. We see no other person in history so
perfectly capable of forgiving those who wronged Him, so completely
willing to forgive even the most horrible acts. Consider the relationship
between Jesus and those whom He forgave, they were His creation,
individuals the days of whose lives were planned before one of them
ever was. They were people with whom He was more intimately involved
than a mother with her child. His forgiveness was an extension of
His love, His concern was that the wrongs that prevented His people
from enjoying Him be removed.
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