Incomprehensible!

Just a few weeks ago, the world watched as a huge tsunami wave, the result of a 9.0 earthquake, moved at the speed of a jet aircraft toward the shore of Japan. From the vantage point of news helicopters overhead, TV viewers around the world looked on in awe at the approaching wave of destruction. We saw unsuspecting residents in the east coast town of Sendai and the surrounding area go about their business, in cars and trucks, or walking and riding bicycles … people who were beginning their day as usual. They had little or no warning of their impending death. Yet, it came with such an incomprehensible force, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it from reaching its devastating destination.

“Can’t someone warn them to flee?” I gazed pleadingly at the TV screen … “Look out! Run! Go the other way! Don’t you know that you are about to die?” My prayers went unheeded … they just couldn’t hear me. I gasped as once living, breathing human beings were swept away to their certain deaths.

In the days following, heroic Japanese men sacrificed their lives … facing sure and certain suffering and eventual death as they desperately sought to seal off the Fukushima nuclear power plant facilities which had been damaged by the tsunami, but to no avail. One man was quoted as saying that he would willingly give his life because that was the right thing to do. Wow! What devotion, what a great attitude … yet they either died or will die from radioactive poisoning.

And, that tsunami … no one could have even thought that they might have stood on the beach and absorbed the full power of that wave with any effect. Death would be certain. Whether to be overcome with radioactive poisoning or the devastation of the tsunami, there is no one who can stop that kind of power.

We have all heard of young men and women who have willingly given their lives for their friends or for their country. They have been honored and held in highest esteem; some of those have been awarded, in the United States, with the Purple Heart or the highest medal of appreciation … the Congressional Medal of Honor. They too have died or will die and we can only say “thank you” for the sacrifice.

There was another who had this kind of attitude. There was one who looked down and saw people who were wandering around hopelessly and who were bound for certain death. That person is Jesus Christ! The scripture tells us that “while we were yet sinners (facing certain death) Christ gave His life for us!” Romans 5:8.

Incomprehensible! Think about this, that someone, anyone, would take on the uncontrollable power of sin and effectively push it back … defeat it, completely and totally! Wow! Incomprehensible!

This past week I heard Pastor Mike Romberger speak of this attitude that was Christ’s. He willingly stood in the gap for us between condemnation … certain death and separation from God for eternity. Thoughts began to permeate my mind as I contemplated this story, this event from my own personal study and from my personal relationship with eternal God through this one who sacrificed for me … for all of us. I tried to picture this sacrifice in a way that I understood, some way to help me and others better comprehend this horrible set of circumstances of perfect God transcending sinless heaven to become a perfect sacrifice or payment for the sins of the whole world. What could suffice, in our limited minds, as an understandable vision of this attitude and sacrifice? Then, God revealed to me that Jesus, in like fashion, stood on the beach of time and absorbed the full impact of the tsunami of sin and stopped it then and there. He came down into the power plant of sin and capped the fission that promised certain death. He took it all upon Himself.

There is no man alive who could have taken on that task with success except the Son of God who became a man in order to fulfill that tall order. It took the very Son of God, the perfect and acceptable sacrifice to stand in the gap for us all. John 3:16-17 tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever would believe on His name should have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” There was no one on earth who could meet the qualifications for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

The prophet Isaiah, speaking of Jesus centuries before wrote, “We're all, like sheep, who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on Him.” (53:6)NCV

So it was inevitable that Jesus alone would be able to take the brunt of God’s judgment … He alone could take the weight of punishment which each of us deserves. He died for us by taking the tsunami of sin on His shoulders. But, it does not end there!

On Easter, we celebrate His resurrection from the dead which the Apostle Paul writes, “Christ has truly risen. Death has come because of what one man did, but the rising from death also comes because of one man. In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again. But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be raised. When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life … Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your pain? Death’s power to hurt is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But we thank God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-23; 55-57) NCV

If you have never personally accepted this payment for your sins and you want to experience this victory … if you want to live forever with God, the Bible says: “all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) And, “to all who accept Him (as Lord and Savior) and believe in Him He gave the right to be the children of God.” (John 1:12)

Just pray this prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God and that you died on a cruel cross to pay for my sins. Also, I believe that you were raised from the dead, just as you said, and that you are back in heaven with God the Father. I want to live with you forever so I confess my sins and believe that you are making me to be a child of God. Thank you for saving me from death … thank you for giving me the victory. Amen!