Worldwide pandemic, global warming, wars, political instability, diseases, hunger, international tension. This is the world that we are all living in. Fear and uncertainty are our daily bread. Everything has changed so drastically that what was once normal has now become a privilege.
The world as we knew it, may have changed forever. The way that we carried about our daily lives may never be the same. Even the manner in which we used to interact with other people may be different from now on.
There are a lot of questions that are still unanswered, a lot of unknowns yet to come to terms with, but surely the biggest impact these current events have made on you is that you now question your very own life. In your own personal assessment, you may have realized that the basic freedoms that you once took for granted, have now been taken away by a microscopic virus. You may have realized that your human body is not as strong as you once thought.
Without a doubt you know that one thing is true. You are not as free as you once were. You cannot go wherever you want, whenever you want. Your vacation time may be limited to your country’s own borders. You may not even be able to visit your loved ones.
Even the pride of your life, namely, the house that you own, being the very representation of your life’s success, has now become your worst enemy. The walls that once gave you warmth and protection now feel hostile. Your safe haven has now transformed into the very epicenter of claustrophobia and oppression.
You may have come to the hard truth that hard earned money, cannot purchase what you once so enjoyed. The security that you had in your savings, your business, your career, and your hard earned money is just a mirage. You feel enchained, surrounded, stranded, forsaken.
Surely, you have realized that you are not as important as you once thought you were. Your world is full of limitations that you cannot overcome. You have come to the sad conclusion that you are just another human being in this planet. A number in a social security system. A tax number for a government. Just a name stacked in a contact data sheet in your doctor’s office.
If you feel like this, we are here to tell you that you are not alone. What you are going through is nothing in comparison to what one special person once endured. However, the context was a little bit different, because not only did this person endure similar things as we do nowadays, but they were far worse and in striking juxtaposition to what you and I are experiencing, this person chose to endure them voluntarily.
Do you want to know who that man is? His name is Jesus Christ.
He was rich, yet he became poor. He was omnipresent, having the ability of being everywhere, yet he decided to be physically limited. He experienced thirst, hunger, fatigue, betrayal. He was the creator of humankind and witnessed how his own creation rejected him. He was the savior of the world, yet he was received as a criminal. He was omnipotent, the host of the biggest and most powerful army in the universe, yet he let himself get beaten. He is king yet was treated like a slave. He is the author of life, yet he was sentenced to death. He was in the form of God and yet took the form of a servant.
To put it differently, when he was crucified, he did not only uphold the cross that pinned him in the ground, but the whole universe was being subject to him. This is a good example that demonstrates the extent of Jesus giving up his Godly qualities.
Now you are probably wondering why he would decide to do such a thing willingly. What compelled him to suffer in such a way? The reason is because of love. Because the love he has for you and me. As Jesus himself said:
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”.
Now, you are probably wondering, “Why did he have to die?” The response is clear; God being morally perfect cannot coexist with anything that is contrary to His nature. God is love but he is also justice. We, humans, act in many selfish ways. We constantly do things that are morally imperfect. We lie, steal, covet, insult, bear false testimony etc. These things are referred to as sins in the bible.
Therefore, when we stand in front of God and we are being summoned for our sins, we cannot escape the retribution for our sins. No matter how many good things you have done, your sins incurred into a debt, and its retribution is death.
You may think that this is not just, however, as an illustration imagine that you have committed murder and you try to appeal your case by telling the judge the amount of good things (obeying the law, paying your taxes etc.) you have done throughout your life. The judge will understand those good things simply as the duties of a good citizen. However, you will be judged for breaking the law, not for what you have done according to it.
A similar thing will occur in front of a holy God. When we stand in His presence, we will be judged for breaking His commandments. Therefore, the same way the judge in the previous example would condemn us justly, God, in order to exercise perfect justice, will have to do the same, and as the bible says “the wages of sin is death”.
Now you will probably ask yourself, it is then impossible to avoid death since “who can act according to God’s laws all the time?” The response is simple; no one.
This is the moment where the justice of God and His love are fully expressed in the most loving act that the world has ever seen. Jesus Christ, God the Son, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
What this means is that in order to fulfill justice, Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. He bore your sins on the cross on your behalf so that you can be saved. As a result, when you are in front of the just Judge and judged justly. Jesus Christ, the only one that is able to fulfill God’s law will stand in your behalf by taking the punishment that you deserve. The just (Jesus) for the unjust (yourself). Furthermore, by resurrecting on the third day, He also defeated death.
Now you might ask yourself “How does this happen?, how can I end up being the recipient of such a loving act?” The answer is clear. Once you understand that in and of yourself you cannot fulfill God’s law, but instead choose to submit to God, humble yourself and put your trust in Jesus Christ, the only one who was able to fulfil the law of God, then your sins are forgiven and the debt that you incurred is blotted away.
Romans 6:23 — 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the demonstration of the grace of God towards all of us. As the apostle Paul said in Romans “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”.
In conclusion, you now know that whatever you are going through in your life, is nothing in comparison to what the Savior of the world endured so that you can be saved. He understands your struggles better than you could ever imagine and, even more, he sympathizes with your weaknesses.
Beloved reader, you are not alone. Jesus loves you, died for you and resurrected defeating death so that you may have life. Acknowledge Him, humble yourself before such a loving God and be free of the bondage of this world.
We love you in Christ,
The Truth of the Bible
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