The
Easter period is a time of reflecting on the death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
He
lived to die
The
reason the Lord Jesus came from heaven and lived as a man amongst His creation
was that He might die. The human race stands guilty before God, and God’s
justice demands our condemnation, but God’s love desires our salvation. How
could the demands of God’s justice and the desire of His love both be met? The
answer is the death of Christ.
The
Lord Jesus came to be the great sacrifice for sin in fulfilment of the Old
Testament prophecies:
Surely
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He
was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.
Isaiah
53:4-6
His
death on the cross wasn’t an unforeseen tragedy. It was the purpose for Him
coming into the world. He lived to die.
He
died to live
He
entered into death to pay sin’s penalty. Because the demands of God’s justice
were fully satisfied, death couldn’t hold Him, the grave couldn’t keep Him, and
He rose, never to die again. He said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I
lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay
it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again” (John 10:17-18). He is on the other side of God’s judgment, and if you
shelter in the one who died and rose, there is no judgment for you (Romans
8:1).
When
we think of every other person in the history of the world, we can say they
lived and died, but when we think of Jesus Christ, He is the only one of whom
we can say He died and lives.
