John 6:38~40
God is the Creator. He loved man, whom He had formed, with all His heart, and let him enjoy happiness by giving everything to him. But man betrayed the love of God, and listened to the devil, the enemy of God. Man sided with the devil by eating the forbidden fruit. Finally, he became the enemy of God and was doomed to perish along with the devil. We were all doomed to perish along with him, due to listening to him (1 John 3:8, Matthew 25:41, John 3:16, John 6:38~40, John 3:16). The reason why Jesus Christ came to this world in the flesh, was to fulfill the will of God. He came to save our dying souls from the hands of the devil because of our own sins. Jesus bore our spiritual and physical suffering instead of us. He came to pay the wages of our sin, and the wages of our distress and anguish in order to redeem us. In order to accomplish the salvation of the whole world, the Son of God set Himself to endure our agony and suffering. The Lord asked His disciples, "Can you drink the bitter cup I drink?" (Mark 10:37~40). No-one on this earth is able to drink the bitter cup of hell, suffering and curses caused by the devil and sin. For this reason, the Lord came to drink the bitter cup on behalf of us. "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." Isaiah 53:5~6. The will of God led to the agony of the Father and Son, and the Son’s excruciating physical suffering, yet this was due to His inexpressible love for us. Christianity is to believe in the law of the truth by which Christ Jesus, the sinless one, surely repaid our suffering and death. He saved us by bearing our sins which would have led us to death. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1~2. Those who are saved by Jesus should take His passion as their portion and be faithful even to the point of death by giving thanks for His saving grace. He carried our sins and shed His blood and died on the cross. If you live in this way, you will receive the crown of life in heaven (Revelation 2:10, Matthew 26:37~39). Dear beloved brothers and sisters! Let us be sincerely grateful to Jesus who suffered greatly to complete the greatest event ever, the salvation of the whole world, by His death and suffering. For Jesus Christ was beaten, crushed, pierced and shed His precious blood on the cross to die for us so that we can be delivered from sin, diseases and curses, death and hell. Therefore we should deny ourselves for the Lord and take up our cross in order to follow Him and to share in His glory.
