MISSION ACCOMPISHED!

                                                 

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame, has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.                                                  Hebrews 12:2. (NKJV)

I don't believe that we think about the fact that Jesus actually sacrificed a lot even before being nailed to the cross.  He suffered being lied on, betrayed, humilated, and tortured.  He willingly left the comfort of heaven seated beside the Father to become the bridge between mankind and the Father, a relationship which was destroyed by the choices of  Adam & Eve in the Garden.  They had intimacy with God in the Garden.  Genesis 3: 8, 9 are interpreted in some Bible Commentaries as meaning "they heard God's footsteps, or they heard God's voice, and they hid out of guilt."

Jesus came voluntarily to be that bridge through which intimacy with the Father could  be re-established through the shedding of His blood.  His was the only blood pure enough to cleanse us from our sins and pay the price that God required for covering our sins.  (Hebrews 9:22 ...and without shedding of blood there is no remission.)  He who was without sin became sin.  Jesus was always clear about His mission on earth.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross. (Philipians 2:8. NKJV) 

                                                 

Before His betrayal by Judas, He prayed in the Garden.  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44 NKJV).  I often wondered how that was physiologically possible.  I recently learned that when a person is under extreme physical or emotional stress (which He was),  a condition called hematidrosis can happen which causing the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands to rupture causing them to emit blood.  

His journey to the Cross was brutal, yet because of His great love for us, He suffered and endured all of it.  At the completion of His assignment He said "IT IS FINISHED!"  Mission accomplished!  May we never lose sight of that.

Blessings.

~CWP~