Can God die?
"little girl: Can He, really?
voice: Yes, He can.
little girl: But if He's GOD, how could He? You say He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is infinite. How then, could that happen? Unless...
voice: Humans are finite. Indeed, therefore, humans can die. God was in human form, the Man we know as Jesus. And so yes, He died.
little girl: WHY then, did He do it?"
The story goes on as everyone might have known that Jesus died to save the souls - only of THOSE who believed in Jesus Christ Himself - from eternal condemnation, i.e. Hell. Why? Because He loved us.
The conversation above was just a little of what my Pastor spoke of on Maundy Thursday's service. He then went on and related of the movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. To put the long story short, it was about a team of soldiers risking their lives to save one little guy. The crux of the story was when Tom Hanks, the leader of the team, was fatally wounded. He called Private Ryan to his side and said two words: Earn this.
The movie was almost perfect if not for those two words.
Pastor then went on and explained the contrast with the greatest love story of all time - Jesus' death on the cross. He died for US. We didn't deserve it. He didn't have to do it, but He chose to do it.
He CHOSE to do it.
We didn't have to earn this sacrifice. If God didn't do it, how in the world would we be saved?
Just imagine that.
"He could have summoned all of Heaven's armies to His side, and yet." For "the wages of sin is death," and SOMEONE had to die. Jesus - GOD - took that place. For us.
"Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
As I heard this simple, vivid message that took a mere 8mins to share, the story of Easter was never more real to me than this. I've heard the stories, read the Book, watched the movies... but it just took 8 mins from a man who obviously had the power and authority to speak with such eloquence and simplicity to illustrate the senario ever so realistically to me, as if I was really brought back in time to 33 A.D.
Praise God.
-----------------------------
I wanna close with the lyrics of the song, 'Why', that I posted exactly one year ago in April. It's about the time of the Crucifiction related through the eyes of a young girl.
We rode into town the other day,
just me and my daddy.
he said I’d finally reached that age,
and I could ride next to him on a horse
that of course, was not quite as wild.
We heard a crowd of people shouting,
and so we stopped to find out why.
There was that man that my dad said he loved,
but today there was fear in his eyes.
So I said, “Daddy, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is He dressed in that bright purple robe?
I bet that crown hurts Him more than He shows.
Daddy please, can’t you do something?
He looks as though He’s gonna cry.
You said He was stronger than all of those guys;
Daddy, please tell me why.
Why does everyone want Him to die?”
Later that day, the sky grew cloudy,
and Daddy said I should go inside.
Somehow he knew things would get stormy.
Boy was he right, but I could not keep from wondering
if there was something he had to hide.
So after he left, I had to find out.
I was not afraid of getting lost.
So I followed the crowds to a hill
where I knew men had been killed,
and I heard a voice come from the cross.
And it said, “Father, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for my robe?
This crown of thorns hurts me more than it shows.
Father please, can’t you do something?
I know that You must hear my cry.
I thought I could handle a cross of this size.
Father, remind me why.
Why does everyone want me to die?
Oh, when will I understand why?”
My precious son, I hear them screaming.
I’m watching the face of the enemy beaming.
But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own.
Jesus, this hurts me much more than you know,
but this dark hour, I must do nothing,
though I’ve heard your unbearable cry.
The power in your blood destroys all of the lies;
soon you’ll see past their unmerciful eyes.
Look, there below, see the child
trembling by her father’s side.
Now I can tell you why...
she is why you must die.
voice: Yes, He can.
little girl: But if He's GOD, how could He? You say He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is infinite. How then, could that happen? Unless...
voice: Humans are finite. Indeed, therefore, humans can die. God was in human form, the Man we know as Jesus. And so yes, He died.
little girl: WHY then, did He do it?"
The story goes on as everyone might have known that Jesus died to save the souls - only of THOSE who believed in Jesus Christ Himself - from eternal condemnation, i.e. Hell. Why? Because He loved us.
The conversation above was just a little of what my Pastor spoke of on Maundy Thursday's service. He then went on and related of the movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. To put the long story short, it was about a team of soldiers risking their lives to save one little guy. The crux of the story was when Tom Hanks, the leader of the team, was fatally wounded. He called Private Ryan to his side and said two words: Earn this.
The movie was almost perfect if not for those two words.
Pastor then went on and explained the contrast with the greatest love story of all time - Jesus' death on the cross. He died for US. We didn't deserve it. He didn't have to do it, but He chose to do it.
He CHOSE to do it.
We didn't have to earn this sacrifice. If God didn't do it, how in the world would we be saved?
Just imagine that.
"He could have summoned all of Heaven's armies to His side, and yet." For "the wages of sin is death," and SOMEONE had to die. Jesus - GOD - took that place. For us.
"Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
As I heard this simple, vivid message that took a mere 8mins to share, the story of Easter was never more real to me than this. I've heard the stories, read the Book, watched the movies... but it just took 8 mins from a man who obviously had the power and authority to speak with such eloquence and simplicity to illustrate the senario ever so realistically to me, as if I was really brought back in time to 33 A.D.
Praise God.
-----------------------------
I wanna close with the lyrics of the song, 'Why', that I posted exactly one year ago in April. It's about the time of the Crucifiction related through the eyes of a young girl.
We rode into town the other day,
just me and my daddy.
he said I’d finally reached that age,
and I could ride next to him on a horse
that of course, was not quite as wild.
We heard a crowd of people shouting,
and so we stopped to find out why.
There was that man that my dad said he loved,
but today there was fear in his eyes.
So I said, “Daddy, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why is He dressed in that bright purple robe?
I bet that crown hurts Him more than He shows.
Daddy please, can’t you do something?
He looks as though He’s gonna cry.
You said He was stronger than all of those guys;
Daddy, please tell me why.
Why does everyone want Him to die?”
Later that day, the sky grew cloudy,
and Daddy said I should go inside.
Somehow he knew things would get stormy.
Boy was he right, but I could not keep from wondering
if there was something he had to hide.
So after he left, I had to find out.
I was not afraid of getting lost.
So I followed the crowds to a hill
where I knew men had been killed,
and I heard a voice come from the cross.
And it said, “Father, why are they screaming?
Why are the faces of some of them beaming?
Why are they casting their lots for my robe?
This crown of thorns hurts me more than it shows.
Father please, can’t you do something?
I know that You must hear my cry.
I thought I could handle a cross of this size.
Father, remind me why.
Why does everyone want me to die?
Oh, when will I understand why?”
My precious son, I hear them screaming.
I’m watching the face of the enemy beaming.
But soon I will clothe you in robes of my own.
Jesus, this hurts me much more than you know,
but this dark hour, I must do nothing,
though I’ve heard your unbearable cry.
The power in your blood destroys all of the lies;
soon you’ll see past their unmerciful eyes.
Look, there below, see the child
trembling by her father’s side.
Now I can tell you why...
she is why you must die.
posted by michelle at 10:38 PM
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