9 Days to Christmas

“by becoming obedient to death.”

The very fact that Jesus could choose to be obedient unto death speaks volumes as to who Jesus was. Can any of us accept death as obedience? No—for every one of us death is a matter of necessity, it is never something that we can choose to accept. Jesus was the author of life and no one could take His life unless He chose to lay it down. Jesus said in John 10:17-18, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” The choice was his, if he did not have a choice, he could not have been obedient. Jesus chose to die. That should be enough. Right? It goes further,

Step eight, “even death on a cross.” Why the cross? Paul summed it up in Galatians 3:13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

What happened on the cross? Paul said in Colossians 2:13-15, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

As we look at the great love God has for us, we must conclude as Paul did after reflecting on God’s divine plan for salvation in the first eleven chapters of Romans, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

Tomorrow we will stop and look at what can we learn from this?