Why Did He Have To Die? A Time For Remembering & Rejoicing

It’s been snowing all the live-long day here today. Amazing that though we are weary to the bone of this seemingly unending winter, as I watch the snow fall outside my window blanketing the gritty residue of winter, brightening the leafless drab of wood standing bare, songs echo.


In this, the week of our sorrowful recollection of the splintery cross of Christ and it’s brutal agony. And the triumphant joyful celebration of His victory over death, His resurrection, the snow today seems an appropriate midweek-wonder.

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The song sung year after year, the hymn, White as Snow. It’s words come, “…though my sins were as scarlet, Lord I know, I am clean and forgiven by the power of you blood…”


And then this one that we all know, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me . . . I’ve had more than a few reminders of the reality of my own wretchedness this week, which in turn, served as a reminder of how great is this grace that we celebrate on Sunday.


It was God’s will to crush Jesus.


Isaiah 53:10-11
Yet it was the Lords will to crush him and cause him to suffer and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.


After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.


Crushing His own son to save wretches . . . to save me. (you)


And He did. As I study the gospel of Mark, learning and teaching, it is clear that the crushing of Jesus began during His ministry. The hostility He endured in his journey to the cross, I consider a type of crushing. Maybe you have felt crushed by hostility.


His rejection was a type of crushing. Maybe you have felt that too.


His sorrow over the unbelief of the ones He loves weighed heavy on Him. You?


Just before the crucifixion He is sweating drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane in among the olive trees. He bore the weight of facing and submitting himself to being the slain Lamb of God to take away the sin of the whole world.


Lysa TerKeurst visited the garden and writes about the value of crushing olives. You can see photos and read about it here. (I hope you pop over there and read it)ο»Ώ


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