Jesus Alone Did It

A photo sent to me by a friend who is studying architecture. I'm going to ask her to design my house like this. My bed will be that big eyeball thing in the middle.

In other words, what Jesus meant when He cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" was that he had taken the place of sinful man on the cross and was suffering the full punishment for sin. There was no abatement of suffering because of His deity. Since all have sinned (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), all mankind (except for the sinless Christ) deserved to die. Chirst took our place and sufferred the death that we deserved (Romans 5:6-9). Jesus was more than a courageous martyr like Stephen and more than an Old Testament sacrifice, because He died in our place and experienced for a time the death we deserved. On the cross He tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9). This death was more than physical death; it also involved spiritual death, which is separation from God (2 Thessalonians 1:9 ; Revelation 20:14)

No one alive on earth has felt this spiritual death in its fullest degree, because all of us live, move, and have our being in God (Acts 17:28). Even the atheist enjoys many good things such as joy, love, and life itself. Every good thing comes from God (James 1:17), and all life originates from Him and is upheld by Him. But, Jesus tasted ultimate death - the separation from God that a sinner will feel in the lake of fire. He felt the anguish, hopelessness, and despair as if he were a man eternally forsaken by God. So the human nature of Jesus cried out on the cross as Jesus took on the sin of the whole world and felt the ternal punishment of separation for that sin (I Peter 2:24).

-David K. Bernard, The Oneness of God

Now tell me again why we need someone to remind us to worship Jesus? If after reading this you (or, more to the point, I) go to the house of the Lord and not praise, worship, and shout to the Lord with everything in me....shame on me. If I have to wait for the worship leader, the pastor, or other individuals to direct my worship...shame on me. If there is nothing else that I can think of to pray or talk to God about, the account above is enough to fill the rest of my prayer times with thanksgiving.

Jesus, you did it all. Thank you, Lord.