© 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sza4rh1YzsM
“…Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Garden of Gethsemane
Then, the Crucifixion itself
Plus,
His time in “Outer Darkness”
It was the saints of old who put these three “events” together and refer
to them as:
“The Sufferings of Christ”
or
“The Passion of Christ”
But today, there is an ongoing celebration in heaven and that is because this is where Jesus is right now this very second:
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Yes, all the details of the “Passion of the Christ” are greatly important and our heavenly Father wants us to be ever so familiar with them, yet always ending up celebrating the fact that Jesus is now seated at His right hand.
Therefore, we are to revisit, to often meditate upon, the garden, the cross and His death, but we are never to stay completely there. Value, appreciate and ponder, “yes,” but always look through them to His Resurrection and Ascension. Another way of saying it — we are never to rush pass all that encompasses the cross of Jesus, but at the same time we are not to get stuck there.
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Can we actually prioritize Jesus’ intent of, not only what He wanted to do, but also what He did accomplish in conquering each of the three phases?
Yes!
His priority, first and foremost was, His total obedience to His Heavenly Father, even His:
Obedience unto death.
And within that, the purpose was that His Heavenly Father would be glorified.
Second,
He desired that He, Himself would be “lifted up.”
What does scripture say?
“For if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.”
Now third, and this is of the utmost importance,
His love for us. For the reality is, we see Jesus unfailing and enduring love for each of us in what He went through. We cannot deny that at the garden and on the cross it was gruesome, horrible and indescribably painful, plus it was full of shame and humiliation. But then we see the resurrection and the ascension to our Father’s right hand! And through all this our Triune God says that this is how He reveals His love for us. His, abounding, compassionate, wonderful, priceless, unfailing love for us.
Here are just a few scriptures, for there are many:
Remember John 3:16;
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Then in Romans 5:8;
…God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And in 1 John 4:10;
This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Yet at the same time, we need to see the importance that He places on each of us individually. Intimately tied to these events is the revelation, that this is the place were we each find:
our true value,
our worth,
our importance,
and
how priceless we are to Him.
This is what we are to take away from the events that our Lord went through.
Were we responsible for all that happened to Him, Yes!
Did He react in vengeance towards us? No!
Our God showed us:
His love,
His mercy,
and
His grace
and in so doing, He let us know:
What we are worth to Him.
How valuable we are to Him.
* * * * *
This is what we are to learn from the crucifixion of Jesus. It is the “Passion of Christ” that we see Him showing us what He was willing to pay to keep us from eternal death. Absorb this reality, for we will be celebrating this in heaven throughout eternity. His amazing, enduring, compassionate, unfailing love towards us and just how priceless we are to Him! And with this foundation in place we will be able to grow into our inheritance and we will do this by focusing on the first two priories that Jesus had in experiencing all that we will learn concerning “His Passion.”
What are these?
His obedience to His Heavenly Father and learning our own assignment in the:
Lifting up of our Lord and Savior, our Brother Jesus!
* * * *
This is the “Shock and Awe” of our Triune God.
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