Thu 5 Mar, 2009
“The death of Christ is not only the demonstration of God’s love
(John 3:16), it is also the supreme expression of Christ’s own
love for all who receive it as their treasure. The early witnesses
who suffered most for being Christians were captured by this fact:
Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). They
took the self-giving act of Christ’s sacrifice very personally. They said, “He loved me. He gave himself for me. And what do I mean? I mean that he paid the highest price possible
to give me the greatest gift possible. And what is that? It is the gift he prayed for at the end of his life: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24). In his suffering and death “we have
seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). We have seen enough to capture us for his cause. But the best is yet to come. He died to secure this for us. That is the love of Christ.”
Reflecting on this reminds me of the costly nature of love. Love that is not costly, is not love. The cost of the love directly translates into to value. If God loved everyone in the same way and then left everyone in their state of despair, it could not be described as love. It would be more along the lines of “concern” or “sympathy”; a passive emotion. But the Bible says that Jesus prayed purposefully for the salvation of those whom the Father had given Him. Simplistically I think it’s safe to say that if Jesus prays for something, it is going to happen. For if God wouldn’t answer the prayers of His Son, what assurance is there that he would answer ours?
Questions. Have you ever considered the fact that Jesus prayed for sinners personally? Did you ever stop to think that Jesus knew each and every person whom the Father had given him? How does this personal, directed and purposeful love of Jesus toward sinners affect you?
For further study on Jesus personal love for sinners, listen to John Piper’s sermon here
Quote from “The 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die”.
Picture – The cross at Mount Erebus, Antarctica, commemorating the 1979 Air New Zealand Crash near Mount Erebus.
