Sunday, 12 December 2010

• Why Did Jesus Come To Die?

  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14

  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.  Isaiah 9:2

  Surely he has borne our griefs
  and carried our sorrows;
  yet we esteemed him stricken,
  smitten by God, and afflicted.
  But he was wounded for our transgressions;
  he was crushed for our iniquities;
  upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
  and with his stripes we are healed.
  All we like sheep have gone astray;
  we have turned—every one—to his own way;
  and the Lord has laid on him
  the iniquity of us all.

  Isaiah 53:4-6

  I wonder as I wander out under the sky
  How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
  For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
  I wonder as I wander out under the sky
  
  When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall
  With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
  But high from God's heaven, a star's light did fall
  And the promise of ages it then did recall.
  
  If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing
  A star in the sky or a bird on the wing
  Or all of God's Angels in heaven to sing
  He surely could have it, 'cause he was the King
  
  

  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
        He has put Him to grief.
        When You make His soul an offering for sin,
        He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
        And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 
        He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
        By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
        For He shall bear their iniquities. 
        Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
        And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
        Because He poured out His soul unto death,
        And He was numbered with the transgressors,
        And He bore the sin of many,
        And made intercession for the transgressors

  Isaiah 53:10-12

  The joy that we share, our jubilant celebration is due to the fact that this Child born in Bethlehem came to earth...God coming to us in the flesh of a human being like us.  We rejoice now because we know the whole story.  It is God who has come to rescue us, to redeem us, to take away our sin!   The passage from Isaiah makes it clear that this is God's plan.   He hates the sin that has separated us from Himself.   The plan of God is so intricate, so complicated, so impossible for us to absorb into our finite intellect, yet it is so simple because God intends for us to know Him and His love and to become His children by faith in the Savior's death and resurrection.

  I hesitate to add this next quote to my post, but I do it intentionally because I want to show just how far so-called preachers have withdrawn from believing and accepting God's word concerning this very crucial issue of the Incarnation and Christmas:

  A quote from Robert Schuller's book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation (Waco, TX: Word 1982) pg.65

  "To call sin rebellion against God is shallow and insulting to the human being.  Where the sixteenth century returned our focus to the sacred Scriptures as the only infallible rule for faith and practice, the new reformation will return our focus to the sacred right of every person to self-esteem.  The most serious sin is the one that causes me to say: "I am unworthy."...I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelistic enterprise than the unchristian, uncouth strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition." 

  This heresy is so blatantly false that one would not think anyone would try to get away with saying this.  God prizes a genuine relationship with Him so highly that He gave His Son to die for us.  How could we possibly profit from this frail thing called self-esteem based on a lie?   This preacher deems his own vain philosophy to be greater than the wisdom of God!

  We have a far greater destiny than just to be esteemed of men.   God has a wonderful plan for us, and it includes the greater plan of redemption from before the foundation of the world AND He did it all for Himself, so that He could have what He desires so greatly:

  
  Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  And they sang a new song, saying: 
  
        “ You are worthy to take the scroll,
        And to open its seals;
        For You were slain,
        And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
        Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 
         And have made us kings and priests to our God;
        And we shall reign on the earth.” 
  
  Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,  saying with a loud voice: 
  
        “ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
        To receive power and riches and wisdom,
        And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 
  
  And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: 
  
       “ Blessing and honor and glory and power
        Be to Him who sits on the throne,
        And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
   

  Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

   

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