He was born to die!

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are                        healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53: 5-6

That's powerful prophetic scripture! Alistair Begg, in What Angels Wish They Knew, 
points out many interesting and thought-provoking aspects of the death of Christ.
He mentions the three hours of darkness that spread over the land in the mid-afternoon;
quite a contrast to the bright light that ushered in the glorious birth of the child Jesus.

Hymn words:

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut the glories in,
When God the mighty maker dies
For man the creature's sin.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God"  2 Cor. 5:21

There are many confused nihilists in this world that would suggest that we are born, ____
happens, and then we die. Jesus, as fully God and fully man, came to this world 
in a total act of sacrifice and walked steadily toward a brutal death upon a cross. He, of
course, by necessity, needed to be both God and man, as chief priest and as the second
Adam to fulfill God's glorious grace-filled plan for redemption of those who would recognize
their need for a spotless redeemer. 

Yes, He came here to die. Along the way He taught the gospel of good news, performed
countless miracles, reached out to the sick with healing and succumbed to most
brutal, unfair treatment with unbelievable grace and class. His was on a mission for His
Father, complete and noble willingness to do what would bring glory and provide
for His sheep, who He knew from before the beginning of time.

They were dark moments done for dark people. He was the light of the world come down
to provide a means. He remains the light of the world, a light shining brightly in the
hearts of those who love Him.

I love Him! Praise His glorious name.

Bi-millennial Saline Sea of Salty Tears

Now that's a title! :)

I'm in the process of reading several books about Grace. It's an interesting, and
obviously very critical, concept. 

There is a quote in one of the books, and I am paraphrasing here, that suggests
that there is a natural danger of forgetting or undervaluing the suffering that
our savior, Jesus, bore both at the cross and in the hours prior to, because of the
fact that it has been almost two thousand years since that day at Golgotha/ Calvary.
The fear expressed is that those events can be looking upon without the emotional
attachment as almost factual, devoid of feeling.

I have never watched "The Passion of the Christ," depicting the twelve hours
leading up to the moments of the death of Christ simply because I'm not sure I could
handle what I would be seeing. Despite the fact that I know a lot more, now, about
those events than I did when the film debuted, I still feel horrified about what
took place. 

It's not only the pain, humiliation, loneliness...I could go on...that Jesus suffered,
it's the fact of who He was. His acceptance of sinners and outcasts, his empathy
for the many afflicted ones that came into contact with Him, His unyielding
devotion to His Father and his obvious love for the ones who would benefit from
what He had to go through, all make the image of this God/man hanging on a tree
so very difficult for my heart to endure. To be physically and emotionally
saddled with the sins of all men, to be separated from the one he loved so much,
to be deserted by those He taught and chose certainly are conceptually difficult
to accept.

If all of this still, after almost two thousand years, does not bring a tear to one's
heart and to one's eye, there probably is a serious disconnect in the understanding of
the gift of Grace that we are privileged to have received. Guilt...probably not a wise
 or intended emotion. Appreciation..there we go! Give that a captial A! Every moment,
every day appreciation for undeserved pain and suffering. No wonder we love
Jesus Christ with all of our hearts! Praise Him!