A friend of mine and I are continuing our weekly Bible study on the Gospel of John. We've met for 19 weeks and have 2 more weeks to go to finish up the book. Today, my friend brought in something that he found online while studying John 19, and I have to say...it hit me pretty hard. Some of you know this about me...but many of you may not. Ever since Kelsey was born I've become a softy...a lightweight...basically I cry at the drop of a hat. I guess having a little girl has changed me, because I wasn't like this before. Send me an inspirational video, I cry. Send me a touching video, I cry. Send me a super happy or super sad video, I probably cry. And when I read about how much my Savior suffered for me, how much He loves me, and how even though I am a wretched sinner He forgave me and died for me...I cry.
In studying John 19, the author of the excerpt below referenced Luke 23:34 in which Jesus says: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Here is the excerpt my friend brought in to share and what hit me like a ton of bricks:
Whom was Jesus asking the Father to forgive?
It could have been the two robbers, who may have been rebuking Him, although that crime would have paled in comparison to what the others had just done to Him. It could have been the four Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the cross and were dividing or about to divide His clothes, or everyone involved in His arrest, torture and crucifixion. It also could have been a defense in response to prosecution; now that Jesus hung from the cross - since all that the Jews and the Romans had to do for their part were done - perhaps some among the twelve legions of angels may have started begging the Father to let them go and shred those who had trampled their Lord. Whatever the case, consider things from the Father’s perspective. He already had to send His only begotten, innocent Son to die. He had to say No when His Son asked Him while sweating blood to let the cup pass if there is another way. He watched His son get mangled into a bloody pulp. Now perhaps His angels are crying out to Him to let them unleash their fury on the Jews and Romans. But then, from the cross, Jesus - the Prince of Peace - asks Him, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." At that, maybe the angels just dropped to their knees and began to weep, the lips of the Father quivered and He whispered under His breath “My Son…” But here is the clincher: the Father then had to pour the sins of billions of sinners into that very Son, turning Him into sin itself ("For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." - 2 Corinthians 5:21) and hear His desperate cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46) as the Holy Spirit is withdrawn, and the death penalty is carried out. This is the ground zero of the Bible, where the justice of God - the need for sin to be punished - collided with the mercy of God - His desire to save us from that punishment. And the only one big enough to bear all of that sin and to contain the force of the collision was His only begotten Son.
It could have been the two robbers, who may have been rebuking Him, although that crime would have paled in comparison to what the others had just done to Him. It could have been the four Roman soldiers who nailed Him to the cross and were dividing or about to divide His clothes, or everyone involved in His arrest, torture and crucifixion. It also could have been a defense in response to prosecution; now that Jesus hung from the cross - since all that the Jews and the Romans had to do for their part were done - perhaps some among the twelve legions of angels may have started begging the Father to let them go and shred those who had trampled their Lord. Whatever the case, consider things from the Father’s perspective. He already had to send His only begotten, innocent Son to die. He had to say No when His Son asked Him while sweating blood to let the cup pass if there is another way. He watched His son get mangled into a bloody pulp. Now perhaps His angels are crying out to Him to let them unleash their fury on the Jews and Romans. But then, from the cross, Jesus - the Prince of Peace - asks Him, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." At that, maybe the angels just dropped to their knees and began to weep, the lips of the Father quivered and He whispered under His breath “My Son…” But here is the clincher: the Father then had to pour the sins of billions of sinners into that very Son, turning Him into sin itself ("For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." - 2 Corinthians 5:21) and hear His desperate cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46) as the Holy Spirit is withdrawn, and the death penalty is carried out. This is the ground zero of the Bible, where the justice of God - the need for sin to be punished - collided with the mercy of God - His desire to save us from that punishment. And the only one big enough to bear all of that sin and to contain the force of the collision was His only begotten Son.
This is a very familiar Bible verse to me, and I know that it took tremendous mercy and forgiveness on the part of our Savior to ask for God to forgive those who had abused Him and were putting Him to death. But until today, I had never really considered this from God's perspective. From THE FATHER's perspective. As a father myself, I love my daughter with a love I would submit you simply cannot understand unless you have a child. I remember people telling me that having a child will help you to better understand and appreciate God's love for us. While I still don't think we can fully understand and appreciate the depths of God's love...I agree that having a son or daughter certainly helps us to better understand God's love. That is why this thought hit me so hard today. Think about this...
We have emotions because God made us that way, and the scripture says we are made in His image (Gen 1:27)...do you not think God himself has emotions? Do you not think He loved his only Son Jesus like you love your children? God had watched his Son be maligned, ridiculed, embarrassed, cursed, abused, beaten, tortured, etc, etc, etc, and put on the cross to die. Yet God allowed it to happen because He loved us.
Give me a little latitude to explore this thought with you. All that God had seen his only Son endure was painful...and God's emotions were building. And when His Son, His only Son whom He loved so deeply (yup...here come the tears again...) was about to die, God got ANGRY. Wouldn't you? God's WRATH for these ungrateful, sinful ants (us) was boiling and He was about to unleash it on all of those who deserved obliteration for what they did to His Son!!!!!! ....But then Jesus, knowing that God's wrath was about to overflow and pour out against all of mankind...lifts his voice to the father and instead of saying "GET THEM DAD!" ...begs for our forgiveness. He pleads with a Father who has just watched His Son suffer undeserved atrocities at the hand of beings that He could vaporize by nothing more than a thought. Jesus stands in between us and the Father and says "...forgive them." And God does...He forgives us. He places the full load of our sins on our Savior, and in that moment...the sins of mankind, when covered by the blood of Jesus, are forgiven.
.....WOW. Maybe it is because my daughter is not yet three years old...but I have never seen this passage of scripture from God's perspective...from a Father's perspective. I don't know if this thought will touch you like it did me...but I'm a wreck today. Thanks Brandon Morehouse for sharing this with me. Love you brother.
Check out this song entitled How Deep the Father's Love for Us.
- Major Pain
Well said, my son! Gen 22:2 has the same impact on me: "...Take now your son, your ONLY son, whom you LOVE...and offer him...as a burnt offering..." What the Father did not require from Abraham, he gave Himself!
ReplyDeleteMajor Pain's dad