Why Didn't Christ Save Himself?

Speaking of naive believers, I used to wonder why Jesus didn't save himself from being crucified. When I was a child, I thought that he was Pilate's victim. How wonderful it is that the Lord had everything under his sovereign control.

Jesus himself knew that he would die on the cross and rise again. He said to his disciples in Matthew 26:2 (KJV), "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."

As I pointed out in a previous post, he had power to lay down his life and take it up again. He wasn't the hapless victim of the Romans and Jews as some people believe.

We can see this truth of the Lord's sovereignty in his answer to Pilate which is recorded in John 19:11 (KJV). "Jesus answered, 'Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.'"

Jesus could have easily defeated the Romans. He knew it too since he said in Matthew 26:53 (KJV), "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"

Consider what one angel did in 2 Kings 19:35 (KJV). "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."

Being human as well as divine, the prospect of the cross and taking the filthy sins of his people upon himself terrified Christ. Matthew 26:39 KJV) reads, "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.'"

And because Christ submitted himself to the Father's will, he suffered physical, psychological, and spiritual agony. Look at what the prophecy in Isaiah 52:14 (KJV) says of him. "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:"

Because of these scriptural proofs, we can be assured that Jesus was the victor and not the vanquished. He rose on the first day of the week and ascended up to heaven after forty days of instructing his disciples.

I'll be writing much more about this in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? The resurrection of Christ gives us hope that we too shall rise to live in his kingdom.

What's Good About Good Friday?

This month's posts have been leading up to this question. After all, since Christ came to save sinners through his atoning death on the cross, we must understand how vile sin is. We also need to understand why only a sinless, eternal being could fulfill the law which God gave to the Israelites.

The "good" in Good Friday is that Jesus went to the cross for whosoever would believe in him. He could have "chickened out" but he went through with his mission. In Matthew 26:53 (KJV) Jesus said to the disciples and those taking him prisoner, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"

Since one angel killed one-hundred-and-eighty-five Assyrian warriors, imagine the carnage seventy-two-thousand angels could do to Jerusalem and the Romans.

Instead, Christ fulfilled the scriptures, not only with his death on the cross but by his birth, life, and resurrection on the third day. As Mark 16:19 (KJV) states, "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he  was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God."

And what's good about Christ being in heaven? Because he ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit was given by God to we who believe in Christ. As Peter said to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, (Acts 2:33 KJV), "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear."

Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was given a glimpse into heaven, as Luke recorded in Acts 7:55-56 (KJV), "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up  stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus  standing on the right hand of God, And said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened, and  the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.'"

And having our sins forgiven, we are justified in Christ as righteous. As Paul noted in Romans 8:34 (KJV),  "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died,  yea rather, that is risen again," who is even at the right hand of  God, who also maketh intercession for us."

So what should be our response to such a great gift which salvation is? Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1 (KJV), "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things  which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."

Because Jesus fulfilled all that the Father gave him to do, he reigns even over death. As he told his disciples in Matthew 28:18 KJV), "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'" That wouldn't have happened if he disobeyed.

I'll include more about the awesome benefits of a surrendered life in Christ in my next book, You Think You're Going to Heaven? Watch this space for updates.