His love endures..... forever!!

His love endures..... forever!!

Patricia Ann, Originally posted Saturday, April 16, 2011 
Do you ever cry or feel sad or angered when you watch a violent tv show, movie or video that shows death and destruction of another human being?
 
More than ever we live in a world that is desensitizing us to brutal killing, violence, and hatred.
People race to buy tickets to the next gruesome movie or play violent video games where mutilation of the
human race is created to be a fun pastime.
 
We see the results of these extreme forms of violence in all parts of society today.  Our children are bullied in school.  There are school shootings, beatings, and suicide.  Workplace and street violence exist, as well as terrible things that happen in our homes - behind closed doors. 
 
Brutal murder is commonplace - reported in the news and then forgotten by most. 
 
While we may live in this brutal sin-filled world where violence is abundant and killing is desensitized, we also have the power and authority given to us by Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to overcome the obstacles that this sin-filled world throws our way and live life abundantly in Him.
 
This is a tribute to Our Lord, Jesus Christ.                                                     ;
 
You see, Jesus Christ was chosen by God to be born, to walk the earth living as a human man and to be sacrificed for
the sins of all mankind. 
 
God's great plan for mankind included the necessity of a savior, a redeemer of mankind.
 
Jesus the Messiah, the very Son of God, had to be born.
 
Our Savior had to be born because mankind, after the sin of Adam and Eve, would have been eternally lost — cut off from God — if Jesus had not come to earth and allowed Himself to be sacrificed to save mankind from its sins.
 
The sins began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus had to be born because Adam and Eve failed to carry out God's mandate to glorify Him in their lives.
It was left for the Son of God, thousands of years later, to ultimately fulfill the divine revelation of God's character and purpose for man.
Jesus had to be born because, without His true sacrifice, humanity was doomed. We would be eternally separated from God because of the sins of Adam and Eve.
 
God promised a redeemer to Adam and Eve, even before He cast them out of the Garden of Eden.
 
God spoke to Satan, who appeared in the form of the serpent.
He told him, ". . . I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15).
 
As Our redeemer, Jesus endured brutality, extreme torture and violence at the hands of those who hated him.
 
He endured the pain of crucifixion for all of mankind --  yesterday, today and tomorrow!
 
When I watch movies or videos about the crucifixion of Jesus, I cry.
 
I feel His pain. 
I have never known a love more beautiful than the love that Jesus has for each of us. 
His undying love for you and me carried Him to crucifixion on the cross.  
 
The brutality of the methods used in crucifixion at the time of Jesus death are agonizing to watch.
 
Imagine the pain Our Savior bore for each of us, as he was tied to a post and whipped, beaten by Roman soldiers,
his flesh ripped and pouring His blood with each strike of the whip. 
 
Imagine the Blood dripping down Jesus' face as a crown of thorns was placed around His head, and pushed into His flesh. 
And imagine as He was nailed to the cross, the painful agony of the spikes that were driven into each of His

wrist and feet.
His placement on the cross was a part of the strategically designed Roman crucifixion methods,  so that the weight of Jesus body would cause suffocation as he hung high on the cross. 
And as if that weren't enough, Imagine that once He died a Roman soldier (in order to make sure He was dead) took his spear and plunged into the side of Jesus letting out a final pouring of water and His shed blood (John 19:34). 
 
And Imagine that while on that cross, Jesus cried out to His father in Heaven,  "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34. 
He knew that his captors and murderers, as well as the bystanders, did not know that He was the true Son of God.
 
His great sacrifice that He made for us was out of pure love for mankind, for You and for Me,  sinners living in

this sin-filled world.
 
Jesus walked the earth for 33 years before He was sacrificed on the cross. 
In that time he preached the gospel and taught His fathers word. 
He lived as a human man experiencing the same trials that we face today. 
As a result, He knows our pain.
He knows our hearts. 
He is always Here for us, no matter what we face living in this sin-filled world.
He died for our sins, but He lives on and His love endures forever!!
 
Peter summarized what we must do to be redeemed:.
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
 
Through Christ's blood God forgives our sins, and by Christ we receive the promise of eternal
inheritance (Hebrews 9:12-15).
 
Through Christ, God has restored that which was lost in Eden.
 
As God has said:
"I will dwell in them and walk among them.
I will be their God, and they shall be My people"
 (2 Corinthians 6:16).
 
Jesus had to be born, and had to die, but rose again to live forever with His father in Heaven.
 
Through Jesus Christ, God has made it possible for all people to enter into an intimate relationship with Him.
 
My prayer for today is that when we are watching the violence in this world we live in - through the news, violence in movies or life, we turn our thoughts to Jesus and know that through Him and his crucifixion, we no longer have to be subject to the ways of this sin-filled world.  He shed His blood for you and for me by enduring horrendous and violent hatred and crucifixion so that we could live renewed in His spirit and His everlasting love. 
Love and Blessings to all in His great name, Amen.