Saved…

Part 3 – By an unusual solution     

To restore our human potential, the Father came up with a most unusual solution: “redemption through Christ’s blood,” Ephesians 1:7. Which is a bit harsh on Jesus, isn’t it, because why should he have to suffer and die for our foolishness? 

But Jesus didn’t see it that way, because he knew “The Father loves the Son,” John 3:35. So whatever the Father had planned for him – including dying a horrible human death – there was a loving purpose behind it.

Jesus also knew that all his Father’s plans were being fulfilled and completed “through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16), including “placing everything in his hands” (John 3:35), “bringing all things in heaven and on earth together” under him (Ephesians 1:10), and making him the source of our eternal life (1 John 5:11-12). So Jesus knew how much his Father revered, loved and trusted him.

So what could possibly be the Father’s purpose in having him die, then? 

Well, look at it from the Father’s point of view. He knows how great his Son is, which is why he handed the reins of his plan to him. But how could he get us to see his Son as he does, so that we come to love, trust and revere his Son too? Because as Jesus said in John 14:21 – “the Father loves you because you have loved me.”

To the Father, loving his Son is the key, so what did the Father put in his plan that would give us the love for his Son? Well, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us,” 1 John 3:16. 

This is how we’d come to love his Son, in seeing his willingness to become human and die for us. Which explains why the Father let us get in a horrible mess in the first place, because in his solution we would see the love of his Son. And to the Father there is nothing more important than that. 

And there’s nothing more important to Jesus too, because in loving him the Father loves us. And to Jesus there is no greater gift he could give us than that (John 17:24, 26). No wonder, then, he went along with his Father’s plan, when he knew this was what it would lead to…(continues tomorrow)