The Price He Paid

The title of this blog entry is the title of the sermon series I'm going through at church over the next few weeks leading up to Easter. Something I've been thinking about lately is the price Jesus paid for us. I don't know if I ever stop to really think about the price he paid for us. Isaiah 53 is such a powerful chapter about this topic. Last week at church I talked about how he was familiar with suffering and there was nothing about him that attracted us to him. This is the same Jesus who was worshiped and adored in heaven before he came to earth. Suffering was not a part of his existence, but he willingly chose to live his riches above to become poor and become familiar with suffering for our sakes.
It is so humbling to think about what Christ did for me. He didn't just die on the cross. He lived in poverty. He did not have anything about him that would indicate he was a king, much less the King of Kings. He was denied three times by one of his closest friends and betrayed by another one. His own people, the Jews, rejected him as their Messiah. His own created wanted to have nothing to do with him. His closest friends were nowhere to be found when he was dying on the cross. Even his own Father looked away from him when took the sin of the world on his shoulders. He went even farther than that and became sin on our behalf (II Corinthians 5:21). This is what Jesus went through for us. He was completely innocent, but became guilty to take our place.
If we don't understand and fully embrace this aspect of the Gospel, then we can never fully appreciate the resurrection for the great victory that it was. The resurrection was the conquering of death and a declaration that the wage of sin had been paid on our behalf. This is a powerful truth that we should all think about as we approach Resurrection Sunday.