“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” Hebrews 1:1-3 (NASB)
Jesus. His name and person are controversial, stirring some to worship and others to riot. He is a dividing line between people because you can’t be neutral about Him—you’re either for Him or against Him.
Why?
Because Jesus is more than just a man. He is greater than we could ever imagine.
He is God’s Son and the God-appointed heir of everything.
He is the Creator and Sustainer of the world.
He is the outshining of God’s glorious character—an exact image of the God we can’t see with human eyes.
He is our risen Savior, enthroned in the heavens.
And that’s barely scratching the surface of who Jesus is. And yet this description of Him is truly gasp-worthy.
You know, sometimes I think we only focus on Jesus’ humanity—but Jesus is both 100% human and 100% God. And a view of Christ’s deity changes the way we look at His humanity:
The powerful, all-sufficient God willingly humbled Himself to a manger…and then to a cross.
No one forced Jesus to do this—they couldn’t force Him if they tried!
Jesus chose to set aside His crown and become human.
He chose not to defend Himself in the courtroom—even though He was innocent.
He chose to carry that wooden cross up the hill and He let the soldiers nail Him there.
And even though simple nails and human soldiers couldn’t have prevented God Himself from jumping off the cross to conquer His enemies, He chose to stay.
For us.
What kind of love is this?!
Even though we were His enemies—the ones He should have railed against—He loved us enough to draw us close through the cross.
Jesus gave up everything me and for you.
So how will you respond to Christ’s sacrificial love?
If you’ve never received Him, will you open up your heart to His matchless love?
And if you have already received Jesus, will you let this image of Christ giving up everything for you lead you to worship?
And I don’t just mean the sing-a-long kind of worship. I mean worship that involves giving up your plans and desires to honor the One who gave up everything for you.
Love like this demands a response. What will yours be?
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org