If Jesus had not left the beauty of heaven,
where He was adored and worshiped as God,
and entered humanity through a dark,
cold cave of obscurity,
if He had not endured betrayal by the ones He loved most,
and stood silently while mere humans
plucked out His beard
and spat on His face,
and struck,
and whipped,
and accused,
and mocked Him;
if He had not lifted and carried the rough, heavy instrument of His death,
and laid His hands against the cross beam,
and accepted nails into His flesh;
if He had not hung there with His blood dripping down into the sand below,
and His prayers of forgiveness ascending to His Father above,
then we would never have received the comfort of Isaiah 54, or the promises of Isaiah 55.
Instead, we would have inherited exactly what we deserve:
grief
fear
shame
regret
hunger
thirst
wrath
terror
judgment
death.
But Jesus did.
©2009, Shannon Woodward
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh Amen sister, AMEN!
If our merciful Lord and Savior Christ Jesus had not left the beauty of Heaven to come here in sackcloth and ashes (that is, skin and bones) then we would all receive our holy Creator’s righteous justice. But b/c Jesus did, we instead receive what we don’t deserve, His merciful love.
Thank you for sharing this article sister Shannon…it’s just beautiful and very sobering.
Thank you for sharing this.
I don’t know what to say. Lord Jesus, gave His life to save us and we were definitely not worthy of that sacrifice. Look at how we all make this world a little worse each day.
May God forgive our sins and show us the right path.