The Greatest Event in History

"What was the ultimate goal of Jesus' -the son of God- crucifixion?"

This questioned was asked in my church service today, and received many common, yet true, answers; for our sin, so that we can have eternal life, etc. You get the idea. But none of these were the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal, was so we can have a relationship with God.

^{Matthew 27:50-51}

⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Mark 15:37-38 

³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Luke 23:45b-46

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.⁴⁶ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was what separated the presence of God from the people, it was many inches thick, separating the people of this world from God. When the curtain was torn, the spirit of God was released to the people. That we can have a relationship with Him, that we can speak freely with Him, and He with us. Without this relationship with Him, we will not be able to enter into the eternity that He wants for us.

^{Matthew 7: 21-23}

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

If I know about Jesus, but do not know him, I have nothing. Jesus has risen from the dead that we may have a relationship with him, that we might know him. Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship. A relationship that Jesus paid for with his precious blood. A relationship that we do not deserve. Nor a relationship that we can earn by good works, or looks. 

Take some time to honor the man who gave it all for (your name here).

Scripture - Love

1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

No matter how hard you try to gain anything, be it a friendship, a family, a hope, etc., no matter how hard you try, you will not gain it without Love, for there is nothing greater.  If you are without Love, you are without God, in the same way, if you are without God, you are without Love.

1 John 4:8

“Whoever does not know Love does not know God, because God is Love.”

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Since we just learned that God is Love we can replace God with Love in any verse, this one is a great example:

“God is patient, God is kind.  He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.  He does not dishonor, He is not self seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.  God does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth.  He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

If you do not know Love you do not know God.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

When we find God(Love), we find perfection, and everything else goes away.  Everything we know disappears , and the truth is revealed to us.  God loves us so much that He wants us to reach this level of understanding, where we fully know all his glory.  Love never fails, but anything that is not love, or of love will, one day, fail.  Love never fails, never ends, never gives up, never harms, Love, God’s Love is perfect.  God’s Love is like infinity, 1 and 1 million are equally distant from infinity.  The amount of God’s Love that you feel now is nothing compared to the amount that He has in store for you.  Currently, all we have is a taste of God’s Love, but when we have received even half the amount that he has for us, it will be like a feast that one cannot fathom keeping to himself.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Anyone can have faith - they know that something will happen, that someone will walk through that door, that their superhero won’t die - everyone has hope - that something will happen, that they will find someone someday who cares -.  Love is also something that everyone has, it’s something that everyone is always searching for, but how many things do you have that you are not aware of?  When we do find Love we rejoice, and Love rejoices, because it has been longing to be found.  In the same way everyone is searching for God, and He simply waits to be seen, and to be accepted.  When we find God, we rejoice and He rejoices with us.