"It Is Finished"
"His last words are our first words. Our life begins where His life ended."
-Louie Giglio, Passion 2015
This week I'm reading through, as many people probably are, Luke 22 and Matthew 26-28. This is the story, beyond that the reality of our Savior's death. One where He sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane, and asks for the cup to be taken from Him. One where the King of kings and Lord of lords doesn't get a "Hallelujah" but a vicious "CRUCIFY HIM!". One where He is flogged, and has a crown of thorns beaten onto His head. One Where He is to carry His cross that He is later hung upon, and given sour wine. One where the Savior dies for us sinful, selfish, unworthy people.
But, it's also a story of VICTORY because on the third day He rose from the grave! It's a story of Him defeating death, and stealing the keys from hell. A story of the Hero dying for the "villain". A story of the veil being torn so that we can spend eternity with Him. A story where the ultimate sacrifice was given, the Lamb of God in our place. A story of redemption and love. A beautiful, yet gruesome, reminder of the price that was paid for us.
In His death, The Lord showed unconditional love, a love where He was willing to die in our place so that we could spent eternity in His presence. An eternity in paradise! Let me give you a very small description of what heaven (The New Jerusalem) is to be like according to John in Revelation 21:9-27:
- Heaven shines with the glory of God.
- Heaven's brilliance is like that of Jasper.
- Heaven has a high wall with twelve gates, twelve angels guarding the gates, and twelve fountains.
- Heaven is 1,400 miles long.
- Heaven has a wall made of Jasper 200 feet thick.
- Heaven is a city made of pure gold.
- Heaven has fountains and walls decorated with every kind of precious stone.
- Heaven's Fountains: The first was jasper. The second sapphire. The third agate. The fourth emerald. The fifth onyx. The sixth ruby. The seventh chrysolite. The eighth beryl. The ninth topaz. The tenth turquoise. The eleventh jacinth. The twelfth amethyst.
- Heaven's gates are made up of ONE giant pearl.
- Heaven has no sun or moon, because the glory of God gives light to it.
- Heaven has no night.
- AND MORE...
I'll give you a minute to click on each one of those stones and imagine fountains made from them...
*Disclaimer: This the best human description of God's holy place, because heaven is beyond our comprehension and can not be fully described by man.*
I am so blown away with the thought that He would die in my place so that I can have eternity on streets of gold singing "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!". We are deserving of nothing but death, even death on a cross, but instead He has given us salvation, joy and peace. And beyond that, an opportunity to drink from the fountain of beryl and ruby in His presence and glory for all of eternity. He laid down His perfectness to pick up our sins and become imperfect so that we don't have to spend eternity in hell.
This is the story of the Gospel. This is where our life began.
If you have not yet received Christ as your personal Savior:
When I say received, this is an action, one where you came to the realization that you can not do life on your own and said, "Lord, I need You. Come invade my life and teach me Your goodness." I can not plea with you enough to do this. Your good deeds don't get you into heaven, putting your faith in the Creator of the universe does. If we ever had to line our goodness up with His, we would fail every time. God sent His Son to die on the cross to give us access to a beautiful eternity. You do not need to "fix yourself" to come to Him, He knows what you have done and will do, and He more than anything wants you to spend your eternity in His presence, love and joy.
"The question isn't if you'll have an eternity, but where you will spend your eternity"
It is Finished - Matt Papa
John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the Name of God’s one and only Son."
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