Isaiah 53: 11 “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”
What kind of religion worships a God who personally experienced suffering, anguish, and oppression, a God who willingly allowed the very humans he created to despise, reject, mock, pierce, torture, and murder him? What kind of fool religion follows a God like that? The crucified God is such a difficult concept that the Bible calls it a stumbling block, an object of folly (see 1 Corinthians 1:23).
The very contradiction of a suffering omnipotent God seems absurd. Yet those very sufferings are the greatest reason to love and worship him. That Almighty God would enter time and space to take on the punishment I deserve, that he would die in my place, is nothing short of astonishing. Peter preached this counterintuitive message to a hostile audience just weeks after Jesus’ resurrection: “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” (Acts 3:15). What an outrageous statement! The Creator of life experienced death! But he didn’t remain dead. We celebrate Easter because Jesus conquered the grave.
In every human being is a longing for redemption. The very best movies and stories depict the self-sacrifice of a man or woman who rescues another person. It is even more powerful when the person is unworthy of the sacrifice. We are moved by these stories because they echo a longing God placed within every one of us. Some people, having never studied the Bible, reject the Christian faith because of mistaken suspicions that it is unappealing, irrelevant, or unsupported by evidence. But the only logical reason to reject the Christian faith is because it seems too good to be true.
Lord Jesus, what seems too good to be true is a reflection of who you are, of the very nature of God. I am in awe of your sacrifice on the cross to set me free from my rebellion, sin, and sentence of death. You alone are worthy of my eternal praise and worship!
———-
This week: In these times of continuing COVID-19 uncertainty, when it can seem like things are spinning out of control and evil is winning, how can you and your household live in the victory of Christ’s resurrection? 2 Corinthians 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.” Things are not always what they appear to be. By faith, pray and remind yourself continually that God is in control, that nothing can happen unless he permits it, and that he is patient and long-suffering with this broken, blind, and rebellious world.