Love, beautiful love, our Savior’s Love!
He had a messy human birth, perfectly
He lived a human life, perfectly
He died a terrible human death, perfectly
He brought God’s full wrath, our due wrath, onto Himself.
Oh, our Savior’s Love!
He was born into a humble life, born cold, wet, naked, and hungry; born in a cold, dirty, miserable stable. He father was a poor carpenter, his mother very young.
Yet he came, and He lived
He grew up as any normal human
Our Savior who is Lord of all, had to learn to eat, learn to drink, learn to speak, learn to walk, learn His letters, his history, his math, and various other studies.
He had to deal with the plethora of difficulties of adolescence, and had to learn how to be an adult
Yet he lived, perfectly
Oh, our Savior’s Love!
He had to deal with unbelieving men, who saw Him only as a healer, a moral teacher, and a nation-ruler. He had to deal with traitors, liars, thieves, prostitutes, the poor, the weak, the naked, and the hungry.
Yet He lived, and He loved.
When He humanly needed His friends the most, He was abandoned, and denied. He stood alone before the Jewish Leaders and Pontius Pilate, with no one but Himself as a Defense.
Yet He lived, and was condemned.
Oh, our Savior’s Love!
He took the scourge of the cat’s whip, endured the sound of the cracking, as His skin was being ripped mercilessly off His back, He tasted the blood as it ran down his forehead and face as the soldiers jammed the painful crown of thorns upon His head.
Yet He lived, and He suffered.
He listened to the mocking of the crowd and the scorn of the Roman Soldiers. He bore the beatings, the thrown projectiles, the long road up the Hill, the bitter taste of vinegar forced down his dry and thirsty mouth and throat. He endured the nails as they were driven through his hands and feet, He felt the tendons snap, the sinews tear, and his flesh being ripped asunder. He felt his life ebb away as the blood flowed and pooled on the dry, dusty ground below. As He tried to breath, though the cruel Cross hindered Him, he breathed hot, dry dust; the stench of his own blood; and the terrible odor of a sweaty, and wholly angry crowd.
Yet He lived, and endured to the end.
Oh, our Savior’s love!!!
He could have let this terrible cup pass from Him, denying His God, and forsaking His Mission. He could have with but a word slain the crowd, jumping off that Cross, destroying His enemies. He could have made Himself King of Rome, the great Conqueror the Jews expected, Emperor of the World. He could have foregone the pain, the suffering, and the humiliation. He could have been spared.
Yet He lived, and staid the Course.
Having staid the Course, and endured the pain of the Cross, He then took up that Cup, that bitter, bitter Cup, and received the full, unmitigated wrath of Almighty God — Holy and Righteous — upon Himself, when He least of All deserved it. He, for a moment, was Forsaken, utterly Separated from God the Father, alone in the fullest sense of the word.
Yet He lived, and was Forsaken.
Oh, our Savior’s Love!!!
He endured until each and every one of His Father’s people’s sins were atoned for, so that God’s Justice would be perfect. Then, when all was accomplished, He proclaimed His work completed, and breathed His last.
So Christ died, perfectly
But our Savior was not finished. As He had promised, in three days He arose from the grave, and thus defeated death, the last enemy. By the power of Almighty God, breath entered His lifeless lungs, His heart beat again, His muscles flexed, and He arose and went forth.
So He lives, as the Risen Savior
Then after patiently teaching His disciples still more, He went up into Heaven, in full glory and majesty, to forever sit at the right hand of God Almighty, Ruling as King; Judging as Judge; Interceding as our High Priest; and Loving us as Savior, Brother and Friend. He then, as He promised, sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to teach us, and grow us and prepare us to be eternally with Him and the Father, forever dwelling in perfect harmony and peace in Heaven where there is no pain, nor sadness, nor grief, nor sin. Oh, the glory of eternal life!!!
And so Christ rules, and reigns, and cares for His People.
Love, oh beautiful, perfect Love, our Savior’s Love!
