God Gave Himself
God Gave Himself
It is difficult to fathom that God set up everything for us to come out on top. Consider how God gave Himself as a sacrifice to save us from Himself as our judge.Is it something he had to do? Certainly not! The word of God continually lays out how He has made provision for us to have a relationship with Him.
The love of God is displayed for us in an extraordinary way. I don't believe we truly have an understanding of how horribly gruesome the cross really was. The Bible tells us He went through excruciating pain for us. A dictionary definition reads "to excruciate is to cause great agony". I cannot imagine in my wildest thinking what Jesus went through, but to consider that He did it for us is astounding.
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Notice how the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus in this text. He is the champion. He has already won. He is the victor! The champion initiates or starts our faith and He perfects or completes it. Jesus knew what the end result would be, so He did what was necessary to accomplish our salvation or deliverance from sin.
Notice that prior to his going to the cross, Jesus told his disciples what was soon to take place.
Matthew 26:26-29
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. 29 Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
Desire is the beginning of achievement. It was in the heart of God to have relationship with us, so Jesus came to shed His blood that we could have unbroken communion with Him. God acheived His desire by not only Jesus dying on the cross, but that He raised from the dead. Which is how we have assurance that our salvation is complete.
With all of this taken into consideration the Bible is telling us we can move to another step. Lay aside every weight. Everything that has kept us from what God's purpose for our individual lives has been removed, if we will let go of it.
Hebrews 12:1 KJV
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us
Notice the writer states, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. For that to take place, notice the writer says, "lay aside every weight". The weight that is being described is used in training, preparing for the race. When it is time for the actual race, you take off the the training weights and run. He is also describing "the sin" which easily besests us, or said another way, the sin which entangles or trips us up. We get rid of what trips us up and we can run freely to accomplish what is before us.
What price had to be paid for us to run freely? Before the ultimate price was paid, look at this.
Luke 22:44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
Jesus was praying as the pressure was increasing. He knew what he was facing. The pressure was so great that blood vessels burst causing blood to come through his sweat glands. All of this took place at Gethsemane. Gethsemane is described as an oil press. As you may know, to get the benefit of the oil from the olive, it must be crushed.
For us to receive everything that we are to receive from Him, He had to be crushed.
He gave Himself willingly, but paid a horrible price. This should cause us to realize how destructive and horrible sin truly is.
It is difficult to fathom that God set up everything for us to come out on top. Consider how God gave Himself as a sacrifice to save us from Himself as our judge.Is it something he had to do? Certainly not! The word of God continually lays out how He has made provision for us to have a relationship with Him.
The love of God is displayed for us in an extraordinary way. I don't believe we truly have an understanding of how horribly gruesome the cross really was. The Bible tells us He went through excruciating pain for us. A dictionary definition reads "to excruciate is to cause great agony". I cannot imagine in my wildest thinking what Jesus went through, but to consider that He did it for us is astounding.
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Notice how the writer of Hebrews describes Jesus in this text. He is the champion. He has already won. He is the victor! The champion initiates or starts our faith and He perfects or completes it. Jesus knew what the end result would be, so He did what was necessary to accomplish our salvation or deliverance from sin.
Notice that prior to his going to the cross, Jesus told his disciples what was soon to take place.
Matthew 26:26-29
26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. 29 Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
Desire is the beginning of achievement. It was in the heart of God to have relationship with us, so Jesus came to shed His blood that we could have unbroken communion with Him. God acheived His desire by not only Jesus dying on the cross, but that He raised from the dead. Which is how we have assurance that our salvation is complete.
With all of this taken into consideration the Bible is telling us we can move to another step. Lay aside every weight. Everything that has kept us from what God's purpose for our individual lives has been removed, if we will let go of it.
Hebrews 12:1 KJV
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us
Notice the writer states, let us run with patience the race that is set before us. For that to take place, notice the writer says, "lay aside every weight". The weight that is being described is used in training, preparing for the race. When it is time for the actual race, you take off the the training weights and run. He is also describing "the sin" which easily besests us, or said another way, the sin which entangles or trips us up. We get rid of what trips us up and we can run freely to accomplish what is before us.
What price had to be paid for us to run freely? Before the ultimate price was paid, look at this.
Luke 22:44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.
Jesus was praying as the pressure was increasing. He knew what he was facing. The pressure was so great that blood vessels burst causing blood to come through his sweat glands. All of this took place at Gethsemane. Gethsemane is described as an oil press. As you may know, to get the benefit of the oil from the olive, it must be crushed.
For us to receive everything that we are to receive from Him, He had to be crushed.
He gave Himself willingly, but paid a horrible price. This should cause us to realize how destructive and horrible sin truly is.
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