Steps to Christ p. 13 "It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became a "Man of Sorrows" that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. God permitted His beloved Son, full of grace and truth, to come from a world of indescribabale glory, to a world marred and blighted with sin, darkened with the shadow of death and the curse. He permitted Him to leave the bosom of His love, the adoration of the angels, to suffer shame, insult, humiliation, hatred and death. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5. Behold Him in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, upon the cross! The spotless Son of God took it upon Himself the burden of sin. He who had been One with God felt the awful separation that sin makes between God and man. This wrung from His lips the anguished cry, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' Matthew 27:46. It was the burden of sin, the sense of it's terrible enormity, of it's separation of the soul from God--it was this that broke the heart of the Son of God.
But this great sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father's heart a love for men, not to make Him willing to save. No, no! "God so love the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16 The Father loves us, not because of the great propitiation, but He provided the propitiation because He loves us."
Just behold Him in all that He has done to save you! It makes an enormous difference in our lives if we serve Him out of love too. He needs our love and appreciation, don't you think? Grandma Joan
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