New Morning Mercies #357

Jesus faced separation from his Father in the here and now so that we would know the Father’s acceptance now and for all eternity.

Jesus knew what he was facing. He knew the price that needed to be paid. He knew what it would mean to stand in our place. He was quite aware of the spiritual math: suffering for a moment = acceptance for all of eternity. And he was willing.

A great moral tragedy was being played out every day in the lives of every person born into this sin-shattered world. Unlike anything else, God had created human beings in his image and for intimate, loving, and worshipful community with him. A relationship with him was to be the deepest, most influential motivation in their lives. It was meant to shape every thought, every desire, every word, and every action. And this community between God and people was meant to be unbroken forever and ever. But it had been broken in an outrageous act of rebellion and sedition. Not only had Adam and Eve stepped over God’s clear boundaries, but also they had quested for his position. So in the saddest moment in human history, they had been driven out of the garden and away from God’s presence.

From the vantage point of creation, it was all very unthinkable. People living separate from God? This was like fish without water, honey that is not sweet, or a sun that provides no heat. Not only did it defy the logic and design of creation, it could not work. Human beings were not hardwired to live independently. We were not made to function on our own and to live based on our own wisdom. We were not created to live by our own limited resources. We were made to live in a constant, life-giving connection to God. People’s separation from God was a functional and moral disaster.

So this disaster had to be addressed. The tragic gap between God and man had to be bridged, and there was only one way. Jesus would have to come to earth as the second Adam and live a perfect life in our place. He would have to bear the punishment for our rebellion and endure the unthinkable—the Father’s rejection. It happened at that horrible ninth hour on the day of his crucifixion, when, in a loud voice, he cried, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) (Mark 15:34). This was Jesus’s most painful moment of anguish as he took on himself the tragedy of our separation from God.

This moment really was the epicenter of the Christmas story. It was why Jesus came. It was why the angels rejoiced at his coming. He came to be the temporarily separated Son so that we can be the eternally accepted children of God. Now, that’s a story worth celebrating!

For further study and encouragement: John 12:27–36