The Cross Was No Accident

Jesus’ life was not taken.

Jesus’ blood was not spilled.

No, Jesus gave his life. He poured out his blood as an offering for sin, and he did it all on purpose. The cross was no accident.

Could Jesus have escaped? Certainly. Thousands of angels stood at attention that day. A single word from the Son of Man would have brought them to his side wielding judgment on the sons of men.

Jesus has power over life and death. He could have looked Caiaphas the corrupt High Priest in the eye and said, “drop dead” and Caiaphas would have dropped dead. The same can be said for Herod, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the Temple guards and everyone else who mistreated him.

He could have called down fire from heaven. He could have ordered the earth to tear itself open and swallow his persecutors. He could have called up floods from the deep to sweep his tormentors into the sea. But he didn’t. In fact, just as had been prophesied hundreds of years before:

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” - Isaiah 53:7 KJV

Jesus could have avoided the cross, but he chose not to. Jesus died on purpose. You see, Jesus death on the cross was not a stop-gap measure enacted by the desperation of God. Adam and Eve’s original sin, their disobedience in the Garden, did not catch God by surprise. Look at this:

“...ye were not redeemed with corruptible things...But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…” - 1 Peter 1:18-20 KJV

Did you see that? “Foreordained before the foundation of the world” to have his blood shed for the redemption of the human race. God created this world, he created the human race, knowing that we would need a Redeemer. He already had the plan in place.

God knew each of us even before we were formed. Psalm 139:15 brings this down to an even more personal level.

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them. - Psalm 139:16 KJV.

You see, Jesus knows you and me. In fact, he knows everything about everybody. And he loved us anyway, enough to go to the cross. He came to this world on a mission. That mission was to provide you and me a means of escape from eternal judgment and restore us to fellowship with God.

Now, here is something you can do on purpose.

If you don’t know him as your Savior, I urge you to ask him to forgive you of your sin and commit your life to him. Eternity matters.

Getting The Last Word...and I like it!

If you go to the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible you will read this:

Rev. 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Is this the most important verse in the book of The Revelation? I don’t know. We really can't elevate one verse over another, but I am sure that it is one of the most often overlooked. This phrase (or some variation of it) is contained in nearly one-half of the books of the New Testament.

This passage follows on  the heels of some pretty dramatic reading. For twenty-two chapters the reader has been reading about some pretty astounding things. There have been trumpets and vials and bowls of judgment. Mountains are falling out of the sky. Weird creatures have come out of the earth to torment mankind. Prophets breath fire. All kinds of judgments have been unleashed on a sin corrupted earth. Wars have been waged and kingdoms over thrown. We have also been ushered into the throne room of God to witness the greatest worship service the universe has ever seen, and the King of kings returns to earth on a white horse.

Now imagine you are one of the first people to hear the message of the Revelation. Perhaps you are sitting with the church at, say, Philadelphia when the minister reads the message. As he finishes this letter and reads this last verse the audience sits in stunned  silence.

Most of the crowd thinks they have heard from God.

Some of them may think that John has been out in the sun too long.

To be sure, the closing verse is not the most notable one in the book; yet, it is a very important verse. Here is why.

First, the Revelation is addressed to  working churches, persecuted churches, faithful churches,   loving churches, dying churches, patient churches, healthy churches and lukewarm churches. I am guessing that you and the church you attend fit somewhere in that list.

Second, these the final words of this book to these churches. In fact the final words penned to the church, the entire church, in the canon of scripture is “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

I want to take this phrase apart and look at it.

I. First of all is the word “grace”. It is that unearned, unmerited favor of God. It is one of those churchy words that we use in church and in very few other places. Yet, grace is so important because without the grace of God we cannot be saved.#

You see, here is the thing:

We cannot demand salvation because we are too weak.
We cannot buy it because we are too poor.
We cannot scheme our way into it because we are too simple.

Salvation comes only by faith through grace.#

II. The next stop on our tour of this verse is the word “Lord” . It means “master”. Our times are an oddity in the history of the world. Odds are, you were born as a free person, as you should be. You may not have two nickels to rub together, but you are a free man or woman, and (unless you commit a crime that warrants incarceration) you will die a free man or woman. That has not always been the case. In fact, for most of the history of this world, slavery has existed as the accepted norm.

Because we are a free people, the word master does not carry for us its full meaning, but Jesus, by virtue of the fact that he is God, is our Master. The good news is that we have the grace of the master. That is, we have His unearned favor. It is his grace which elevates us above the status of a mere servant. In John we are called friends. In Galatians we are called sons.*

III. “Jesus” . His name means “Jehovah is salvation”. The wonder of the incarnation is contained in this name. This name, in five letters, contains the entire meaning of John 3:16.

The first instance we have of anyone who says his name “Jesus” is when the angel announces his birth with the words “…And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”^

Have you ever felt inferior? Well, think about this for a bit. Within the name of Jesus we have a description  of the unearned favor of Jehovah, the great I AM at work to redeem the helpless.  Christians who routinely hide behind “I ain't.....” and "I can't...." statements need to realize that they have received grace from the omnipotent "I AM".

IV. “Christ”. This is not Jesus’ last name. It is a title. It means the anointed one, chosen of God. The Messiah. The Deliverer. He came to this earth the first time humbly, as a servant to save.

Soon, the Bible teaches, he will return to this earth as a King. He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

 And I have his unearned favor.

V. Here is an important word you may not suspect. It is the word "With". This little word is sometimes translated from the Greek as “after”, “among”, or “behind”.  

This best way I know to illustrate for you the meaning of this word is to compare it to perfume.

Have you ever known someone who really, really likes their perfume or cologne?

Grace is like that. I’ve known people whom you could identify by their perfume. You didn’t have to see them to know they were in the room. Strong perfume will fill a room where a person is. It will linger after they are gone. If they hug someone, the perfume will transfer to that person. They carry their fragrance "with" them wherever they go.

Similarly, grace not only flows from God to us, but through us to those around us. In other words, to be like Christ we show "unearned favor" to those around us.

It is not enough to be kind to those who are kind to us. That isn't grace. That's normal. Grace goes beyond normal. We truly display grace when we show our favor to those who have not earned it.

The Conclusion on all of this is tied to the little word “all” . Do you want to know how to get this blessing? How to receive the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”?

I have the secret right here. Look at 1 Peter 5:5.

 “ ...all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Have a wonderful day my friends!  And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with each of you!

 

# Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God...
* Galatians 4:4-7, John 15:15-17
^ Matthew 1:21