How To Overcome:The Blood of Christ

So, Easter is this weekend and I thought that there is obviously nothing more fitting to talk about in my post than the story of Jesus’s death on the cross. I am sure many of you have heard the story a million times. But I believe it is worth re-reading often because it really shows just how much Jesus loved us. He knew He was going to be betrayed even before it happened, and He allowed it. He knew He was going to die the most brutal death, but He was obedient to His Father til the end and knew what had to be done in order to save us from our sins. Each time I read what happened, I am incredibly moved by Jesus’s obedience and selflessness. He truly was the most amazing man to ever walk the face of this earth, and I hope that each of you remember what He did for you this weekend and reflect on it.

If you  want to know the exact story, check out:

Matthew 25-28

Mark 14-16

Luke 22-24

John 17-20

I tend to read Matthew and John, but all four are excellent.

Instead of tell the whole story over again to you all, I wanted to comment on a specific part of it. I want to look at when Jesus says ”It is finished” in John 19:30. This is not usually the most commonly talked about phrase, but the Lord really revealed something great to me when thinking about what to post today and I thought I would share it.

This past weekend at church, our pastor shared a story about these crazy dogs that his neighbors have. They started out as seemingly innocent, just a little bit wild and not trained. However, as time went on and they became more aquainted with him, they started getting violent. When he would go out to get the mail they would run over to him and bite him. He found out that his wife was pregnant a while back (they now have an adorable little boy), and one day,  as he was making the walk to his mailbox, he saw the dogs coming and got this vision of his unborn son following him out there and the dogs coming to attack him. When he got that vision, he immediately knew in his heart that if those dogs were to try to attack his son, he would step in front of him and do everything in his power to keep them from him, even if that meant getting beat up by the dogs in the process. This probably doesn’t make any sense to you right now, but what our pastor was demonstrating was God’s love for us and how He goes to great lengths to protect us from our sin.

See, the man in our pastor’s story is analagous with God, and the dogs are representative of sin. Easter is such a special holiday because it represents God’s love for us just like this story does. He foresaw our sin and the damage that it would bring to us, and because He loved us so much, He decided to do anything in His power to keep us away from it. That is why He sent His Son down to die for us. He wants to seperate us from our sin because He knows how harmful it is. He see’s us as precious sons and daughters and would never want anything to hurt us. God will always stand in the gap for us to keep us from sin. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He stood before all the sin that the world had committed and was yet to committ, and was “beaten up” in order to keep us away from it. He took the pain and beating for us because He loved us and He was perfectly obedient to His Father.

But there is another side to this story. If we want God to stand in the gap for us and fight against the devil’s schemes in our lives, we need to do our part, too.  If Jesus had decided to choose not to obey God and die on that cross, imagine what this world would be like. We need to learn from His obedience and immitate it. We have the ability to be obedient because He was first. When we see sin in our life, we need to turn from it. God will do everything in His power to get us to the place of surrender, and we must not fight that. Think about the story my pastor told, then imagine yourself as being his young child and imagine God coming to your rescue. He would stop at nothing to protect you and He desires that everyone would give Him the place to do that in their lives.

I was encouraged by the phrase “It is done” because it again shows the finality of what Jesus did on the cross and the way that it affects us today. We can overcome sin and any hardship because “it is done”. Jesus overcame it all when He died on the cross for us. By coming into this hope, we are allowing God to be able to protect us from sin. That is the gift that He gave us when He sacraficed His precious Son on our behalf. There has never been a greater act of love shown and there never will be. He is our shield and our protector and will always stand before the “dogs” to keep us from harm.

Here is a video from the Passion of the Christ that demonstrates what Jesus did for us. Watch it and remember that if you were the only one living, He still would have come down and gone through all of this just to save you. He loves us each that much.

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