Our Hebrews passage today talks about something really important - God coming to Earth in the form of a man, Jesus, and why that was necessary. We started reading Francis Chan's book Crazy Love in our Bible study last night. The question came up about how we would feel if it was one of our children dying on the cross, because that's what each of us deserves without Jesus having done it for us. Of course, the idea of one of our children being crucified is horrible, dreadful, terrible, awful... I need a stronger word that I'm not finding at the moment. Someone wondered aloud why God couldn't have found a way other than His Son having to suffer and die on the cross to save us from our sin. The truth is, God could have chosen any way He wanted. He could have chosen to create human beings differently than He did and thereby change His plan, or not to create us at all, (which I would think would have been tempting, considering how much pain and anguish we cause Him - He must really love us, or I don't think He would've bothered to even create us, much less send His Son to die for us).
The following excerpt from The Necessity of Incarnation - Part 1 by Bob Deffinbaugh gives a much better explanation than I could have done. The only emphasis I added was to enlarge the first paragraph.
Why was the incarnation necessary, so far as our text is concerned? First of all, it was necessary in order for God to cleanse men from sin, and restore them their broken relationship with Him. Only a man – a perfect, sinless, divine, man – could die in the sinner’s place. It was therefore necessary for the Second Person of the Trinity to add sinless humanity to His undiminished deity, thereby qualifying him to die in man’s place, bearing the guilt and punishment of his sin. As such, He became the “last Adam,” who provided a reversal for Adam’s sin and its consequences.
In addition to this, the incarnation was necessary in order for God to restore fallen man to his former, original dignity and glorious destiny. It is through the work of the perfect man, Jesus Christ, that men can anticipate reigning over all creation. His victory is ours, as His reign will be shared with us as well. And so the incarnation and death of the Son not only saves sinners from the guilt and punishment of their sins, it produces the glorious hope of reigning with Him in His kingdom.
One can hardly overestimate the importance of the hope that this gives the Christian, especially in the dark days when we, like all of creation, suffer and groan because of the ravages of sin:
23 Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance (Romans 8:23-25).
25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God – given to me for you – in order to complete the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:25-27).
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 12 It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good (Titus 2:11-14).
5 He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation [hope] of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7).
There were a few more verses here... I removed them to shorten this post. You can go to the link above to read the rest.
Our hope should not be diminished by our difficulties, but rather should be strengthened as we see how God sustains us in trials, so that our strength and perseverance increase:
3 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation (Romans 5:3-11).
Those who are currently undergoing testing and trials can be assured by the certainty of their hope that in the future they will reign with Christ.
Tomorrow's passage: Jeremiah 49, 13 & 22; Hebrews 3.
1 comment:
The incarnation of Jesus is incredibly amazing actually. There is a great sermon/post on this on the Revive our Hearts website http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/revive-our-hearts/the-incarnation-of-christ/
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