Saturday, May 11, 2013
Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
THE MIND OF CHRIST: HE RODE ACCEPTING DEATH
Most importantly, on Palm Sunday Jesus rode toward His death for the sake of sinful man. Jesus rode knowing and accepted the consequences not of His own but of my sin. To us it is hard enough to accept the consequences of our own sin, yet Jesus willing accepted the consequences of the sin of others.
One of the arguments most consistently used against religion in general and Christianity in particular is what C. S. Lewis called the Problem of Pain. Why should good people suffer bad things? Few Christians can make it through life without wrestling with this basic question in one form or another. But when we see the righteous Son of God hanging on the cross receiving the punishment of our sins, what can we possibly complain about before God? Or even more when we see the resurrected, ascended Christ and hear His promise, how can we complain about a few short years of suffering compared to what is coming and will be ours in Christ? The question of pain is one to which Christ is the perfect answer, but without Christ there is no answer.
This question dates all the way back to the time of Job.
Job 2:10 "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?"
Over four thousand years later the answer remains the same.
Job 19:26-27 "And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"
How do I know this? Because He rode to death for my forgiveness and was raised again for my salvation. The mind of Christ, "despises the shame" for "the joy that was set before him."
