Jesus Died So We Could Live!
Jesus died today. One disciple betrayed Him and another denied Him three times. Then Jesus went through terrible beatings and mockery. Jesus suffered greatly for our sins. He knew God’s plan and focused on it, He did not save himself, He saved us. Jesus loved us so much that he saved us, while we were still sinners.
It is amazing that He prayed for the people who were killing him saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”(Luke 23:34) That prayer right there, proves that Jesus was the Messiah, who else could pray like that? And we still do not know what we are doing, but Jesus forgives us anyway.
Also, when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”(Mark 15:34) God cannot be near sin. God had to leave Him for a minute so Jesus could take in all the sins of the world. Those few seconds without God must have been so very torturous as well.
We must remember the suffering and death of Jesus, because that is when He took our sins and died for us. And yet we have hope, because three days later Jesus raises from the dead and lives, giving us eternal life.
Jesus’ death is mentioned all throughout the Old Testament too. I like the song of Isaiah 53:
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression a]”and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken. b]”
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes c]”>[c] his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied ;
by his knowledge“ my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, g]”
and he will divide the spoils with the strong, h]”
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.