Friday, February 21, 2014

20

Who is the Redeemer?
The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. (1 Timothy 2:5) (from here)

You redeemed us. We were lost and you redeemed us. You paid the price in your body so we might be released and restored. You walked into that North Korean labour camp, quietly demanding that all the prisoners be set free and that you would undergo their torture and animal labour. Except that we weren't innocent political prisoners - we deserved what we got, what was coming to us. The punishment was cruel because it was just - not a fraction less or more than what we had done.

How in a few hours you could suffer the punishment of all, I do not know. It was intense where it might have been eternal. And more intense because GOD was being punished. More intense because the SON cried to the FATHER, "Why have you forsaken me?".

This is what it took to redeem us. A few hours of the greatest evil as we killed God and as the Father looked on you as the sum of all human perversity. A few hours of the greatest love as you submitted to it all for love of your Father and of us, and after which the Father raised you singing to his side, crowning you with glory. This is what it means when we call you our Redeemer. It is no small thing. Help me never utter those words lightly.

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