"Keep your eyes on Jesus.." - Hebrews 12:2-3 (MSG)

The story of Jesus from His perspective is about how He overcame this world by fixing His eyes on the prize—which was to be reunited with His heavenly Father and sitting with Him on the right side of His glorious throne. 

This one goal pushed Him forward through all the suffering He endured. The cross of Jesus though it was required, was a mere distraction for Him compared to the joy He saw set before Him. Nothing would detract Him from His goal of rejoining the Father.  

"We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne." 

Hebrews 12:2 (ERV)

Jesus could not deny who He was; He was God in the flesh. 

And being eternal God He came to this earth to redeem (or ransom) humanity from the predicament they found themselves. 

Sin was the problem that divided the two worlds the natural and the spiritual and caused the separation between them; it was like social distancing in the extreme.  

Jesus' objective was to die, not to be established as an earthly king. I had pondered this very thought this morning what if Jesus had come to earth to become an earthly king upon His first arrival, how would things have turned out?

There would have been a war between Jesus and the Roman army and I am sure there would have been miraculous manifestations that Jesus could have done to prove His right to rule. That is what the people wanted, a Messiah that would overturn the Roman oppression of the Jewish people and lead them to a mighty victory much as King David did in his time.

If Jesus were crowned an earthly king without dying and becoming our sacrificial pardon for sin, we would all be trapped eternally in our disobedience. We would be lost with no way to approach our Holy God, and we would be separated from Him forever. All that we would know would be guilt, shame, and death, which would dominate our lives in perpetuity.

Jesus told his disciples, "The nation's leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make the Son of Man suffer terribly. They will reject him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life." 

Luke 9:22 (CEV)

But thanks be to God that Jesus did come with a plan to die for us, He had to die for us to release us from the eternal curse of sin. 

His death was prescribed from the hidden wisdom of God, which had to be enacted to free us. That is why Adam and Eve were physically removed from Eden and blocked from returning after they sinned; the requirement for sin was death, which is the only way to pardon and purge sin. 

God didn't want them to take from the tree of life without first knowing and experiencing His solution for sin so they wouldn't be permanently locked into its curse of death without a way back to eternal life with God.

"He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life." 

Genesis 3:24 (HCSB)

Jesus is our Lord and our example when He becomes our sin-bearer we permanently relinquish our rights to sin and offer that right to him as a free-will offering; we can freely impute our sin and guilt upon Him for He had borne the penalty for us. He becomes our forgiveness and salvation. 

We are then made clean, our rights to our sinful life are terminated, and we have a new life that we live in Christ Jesus.

Jesus defeated all principalities and powers (which includes Satan) by His death on the cross. Jesus invoked our pardon and complete forgiveness that we may be like Him as sons and daughters of God. 

Becoming sons and daughters of God requires that we put on understanding, just because we are offered the position doesn't mean anything unless we step into it and put it on. 

Consider the story of the prodigal son after he had spent his entire inheritance on wild indulgent living, he had an identity crisis, until the Father reminded him who he was:

"Then the son said, 'Father, I was wrong. I have sinned against you. I could never deserve to be called your son. Just let me be—'   

"The father interrupted and said, 'Son, you're home now!' "Turning to his servants, the Father said, 'Quick, bring me the best robe, my very own robe, and I will place it on his shoulders. Bring the ring, the seal of sonship, and I will put it on his finger. And bring out the best shoes you can find for my son." 

Luke 15:21-22 (TPT)

The Father wanted his son to know where he truly belonged right away; the Father also wanted his son to put on a new identity and be clothed with the Father's robe that He would place on His son. The family ring which the Father places on His son's finger signified that the son as an heir in the family. The best shoes speak loudly about the testimony given to this son. 

Paul uses this as an analogy to describe being clothed with Christ:

"Your desire to tell the good news about peace should be like shoes on your feet." Ephesians 6:15 (CEV)

We have a testimony given to us by our loving heavenly Father, who is evident in the person of Jesus. 

He desires to clothe us in Himself (much like a robe) so that we can even have the fragrance of His presence upon us.

We have the seal of Christ, which is our baptism (our death) to the old nature and have new life in Jesus. 

And God's peace which fills us with the wonder of God's presence and gives us a testimony of His loving-kindness to us.

Here is the wonder of being in Christ; Jesus provided everything and we are invited to the family party.
We are not welcomed in as outsiders, but as sons and daughters of God!

He brings the world to life!

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett