The cost of God’s love!

We can’t understand God’s love until we understand the cost He paid.

We are created in God’s image. The most honorable, most pure attributes we share as people (as parents) are only an imperfect reflection of the Father.

Now imagine your love for the people you’re closest to, your family, your friends, those whom you cherish most in this life. Imagine yourself looking down into the face of your little child. Imagine the Father looking down into the face of His child, looking down into the face of Jesus.

That is the context as we continue…

Jesus took all of our sins upon himself. As you read through scripture, you can see how gracefully he accepted his task, how gracefully he accepted his fate. But what might be missed is the most difficult part of Jesus’ sacrifice… the most difficult part of the Father’s sacrifice. I believe scripture reveals it to be those final moments right before Jesus said, “It is finished!” That moment when Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that point in time, or more pointedly, that point outside of time, Jesus was separated from the Father for the very first time. I think it would be hard to imagine that sense of loss, that profound sense of aloneness that He experienced at that moment as well as the sorrow the Father experienced when He turned away from His Son, and they were no longer in communion.

No matter what happens to us on this Earth while we live in the flesh, we are still exposed to the glory and influence of God… Through his creation, through his children and most importantly… Through his Spirit.

I believe the pain of hell goes much beyond physical pain… It will be the agony of one’s spirit when it is entirely devoid of any connection with God. Utterly alone in a crowd of hopeless souls.

Jesus had to pay the price we deserved. He could only do that by suffering the fate that we deserve. He suffered alone, away from the presence of His Father.

Now imagine you are a father who is turning away from your child in their most desperate moment. You are leaving them alone to suffer and die. Imagine that you are the one who sent them to sacrifice themselves for those who despised them… for their enemies.

That is the cost of the Father’s love for us… so we could be called children of God!

ESV John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

ESV Rom 8:32: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

ESV Luk 22:42-44: Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

ESV Mat 27:46: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?””

ESV 1Jn 3:1: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

About the Garden

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