Born to Die

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Being that we just celebrated at Christmas the birth of Jesus Christ, God incarnate dwelling among us, It would be essential to see what the Lord spoke about the reason that He came from Heaven to Earth. Christ identified many reasons why He had been born. One commentary listed and invites us to consider the following sampling of verses and references. 

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

First and foremost, Christ came to redeem those who would believe (Salvation). John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. But under that umbrella of redemption come many other aspects. God is love. God is also light. God is the moral ruler of this universe. God is righteous. He is holy and He is good. You and I are going to perish one day. We’re lost sinners and God still loves us, but the love of God cannot bring us into Heaven. God had to provide salvation, and He paid the penalty for our sins through Christ. Now, a God of love can reach out His hand to a lost world and say, “If, by faith, you will believe in My Son because He died for you; if you will whole-heartedly come on the basis, I can save you.” God saves us by His grace, motivated by His love and mercy. 

Jesus said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34). God’s will was paramount even in judgment, as well as resurrection. “This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son, and believes on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). In everything, Christ sought to bring glory to His Father. So should we.

The commentary states that many aspects of Christ’s work are to be realized in this life, for He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. That abundant life is walking with the indwelling Holy Spirit as a sojourner through this life with our will aligned with the Lord’s will. His desire in it all was that we might have an eternal relationship with God. “That they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”.

John 15:13“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.

But the primary goal was to bring to climax His redemptive strategy. He knew that none of the other aspects of His work had any effect without atonement for sin, which was only possible if a blood sacrifice was made for that sin. “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”. This was the reason He came to Earth; Jesus Christ was born to die. 

Blessings in Christ