"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2
After all of the miracles, signs, and wonders, Jesus’ fate was the cross?
He was without sin yet He experienced the death sentence of a sinner. His supernatural power made Him the target of His enemies and a victim of a wrongful death sentence and hate crime.
Even after His innocence was proven, His life was handed over in exchange for a murderer.
He didn’t deserve the cross, but He was called to the cross.
He went to cross and although He could have come down, He didn’t.
Why? HE LOVED US TOO MUCH TO COME DOWN.
What a love?!
If it were His choice, He would not have chosen what He was chosen for and enduring the cross would not be His assignment. Still, He chose to obey the will of the Father and endure the cross.
The cross was for sinners to bear the torture, shame, and death they deserved. However, Jesus’ assignment was to prove God’s love by contradicting the fate of sinful man.
He was mocked and even asked to use His power to come down, but He stayed on the cross until His assignment was completed.
Thank God Jesus didn’t come down.
Instead, He endured the cross, its shame, and death. His assignment included enduring the cross, but the cross was never His fate. it was the key that unlocked and completed His ultimate purpose and ours. On the other side of His death was His resurrection. On the other side of His shame was God’s unconditional love. On the other side of His wrongful death sentence was our justification, sanctification, and glorification.
He was chosen to endure the cross that we could access and experience unconditional love, eternal life, and resurrection power. He served God in love even to the point of death in order for us to be made perfect in God’s love and have freedom, life, and council through God’s Holy Spirit.
He endured the worst so that we could experience God’s best. He was ripped of all authority so that God’s authority to overcome shame, guilt, sin, and death could be proven and manifested in our hearts and in all the earth.
His life was not exchanged for the sinner, but resurrected in order to prove God’s glory and love for us - love that is freely given but so undeserved.
Death seemed to be His fate but resurrection was His legacy.
Because He got up, we can get up despite the circumstance. Because He exchanged our sin for righteousness, we are redeemed. Because He exchanged our weaknesses for glory, we can have an intimate and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father despite our imperfections. Because He exchanged shame and guilt for mercy, we can live free and experience eternity.
I don’t know what you have been called or chosen to do, but remember whether it feels good or it doesn’t feel good, You can trust God’s will and His plan. Jesus’ obedience led us to supernatural grace, mercy, and love that could not have been achieved without the cross.
The cross may have been Jesus’ portion, but His identity was to be a human example of God’s heart.
The cross may have been Jesus’ assignment, but His purpose was to be the ultimate sacrifice and demonstration of God’s unconditional love.
The cross was a part of His history, but His destiny was to be resurrected, to give us resurrection power through the Holy Spirit, and to be the gateway to eternal life.
He was and still is the Savior of the world.
Why love?
Because He first loved us.
Choose love, because He chose to love us and give himself for us to be glorified with Him even though we never have and never will deserve it.
Sometimes it's hard to choose what we have ben chosen for. We all have a cross to bear. Will you endure the cross that comes with your assignment or will you come down?
You may be feeling betrayed or like the victim, but if Jesus can endure the cross, so can you. We all have to bear our cross, but there is a blessing on the other side of our endurance. It’s bigger than you. Don’t come down. If he told you to endure it, He has a plan that is far greater than you and your situation. It’s the perfect set up for His resurrection power to prove He was with you the whole time. May God be glorified every time we bear our cross for His sake. There is glory and victory after this.
Jesus didn’t come down. Neither should you.
It’s bigger than you. Don’t come down.
God we love you too much to come down.