CHRIST ON THE CROSS: HIS PASSION

 

CHRIST ON THE CROSS: HIS PASSION

Isaiah 53:4-6

Jesus was a man of great passion. He believed with all of His heart in His mission, and He was willing to give His all to fulfill it, even His death on the cross. We see Christ’s passion on display in His determination to do God’s will, bring God glory, finish what He started, and to not wilt under enormous adversity.

Jesus knew that going to the cross was God’s will for Him. He had prayed in great agony over what He knew awaited Him in Jerusalem. He asked God that if there was any other way to purchase our salvation that it would be done. Yet, He knew through prayer that there was no other way, and He yielded to God’s will. He set out for Jerusalem with His disciples, knowing that even they would desert Him when things got really bad. His passion was to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven and cast away from God where they would be seen no more.

Jesus’ passion was always to see God glorified. John 12:27-28 Jesus did not seek His own glory. He knew that if God were to be glorified, He would also. He knew that after the cross, He would return back to God and be eternally glorified with God. We likewise need to seek God’s glory always and not our own. Only the Lord deserves praise, honor, and glory.

Jesus’ passion is seen in His determination to finish what He came to do. John 20:30 Jesus did not have to finish what He started, but He did. He could have called upon the legions of heaven’s angels to come and take Him home at any moment of the process, but He wouldn’t do it. They were at His command; He was the Captain of Heaven’s armies. Instead, He endured the horrendous beatings meted out by the Roman soldiers, being nailed to the cross, the mockery of the crowd gathered there, and the painful process of dying on the cross. Are we as determined to finish what we start for the Lord? Are we willing to pay whatever price is necessary in order to fulfill God’s will for us?

Jesus was determined to not wilt in the face of adversity. He had counted the cost before He came. He knew that He would be misunderstood and rejected by most. He knew that even dying on the cross would not convince most that He was the Son of God. He knew that He would be the object of much scorn and mockery, then and forever. Have you counted the cost of following Jesus? Are you determined to stay true to Him no matter what happens to you or how you are received by others? Have you taken up your cross to follow Him? It’s not an easy road to heaven and few will actually travel on it.