THE SUCIDE OF SEPARATION
Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why did you forsake me?" Matt. 27:46, Phillips.
Thousands of people die every year in traffic accidents. Though the auto makers install seat belts in every new car, many people will die anyway, simply because they did not use the belts. They felt no need to "buckle up," because they never identified with the possibility of being in an accident themselves. Unfortunately, they did not live to benefit from learning that devastating possibility.
Ever since Eden, people have believed that they have life independent from God. The theory of evolution is simply an elaborate explanation to that effect. And the daily existence of atheists and churchgoers alike seems to substantiate such thinking. To find out that God is our only life source may be like discovering too late that we are not immune to traffic accidents.
Man should have perished in Eden. But God wasn't looking for statistics to prove Himself right. He desired that we might live! So He devised a plan whereby we could see what happens to us when we are separated from God yet live to benefit from the lesson. Incredibly, God would become one of us (2 Cor. 5:21)! By beholding Jesus, our substitute, we would discover that sin--separation from God--kills!
Men did not kill the Son of God. He hung upon a crude cross but He died because He experienced the consequences of sin for us. He cried out, "My God, my God, why did you forsake [leave] me?" However, He died knowing that He had accomplished what was needed. For He cried again with a loud voice, "It is finished!" (John 19:30, Phillips).
May I suggest that God did not kill Jesus, either? He simply allowed Jesus to bear the results of man's choice when he withdrew from God. As this happened Jesus cried out, and moments later He was dead. In the sacrificial services the sinner who brought a lamb offering killed it himself. The priest only caught the blood. The staggering truth is, man ultimately kills himself!
God pleads with us to come to our senses. "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die?" (Eze. 33:11, R.S.V.).
Then Jesus cried with a loud voice, "My God, my God, why did you forsake me?" Matt. 27:46, Phillips.
Thousands of people die every year in traffic accidents. Though the auto makers install seat belts in every new car, many people will die anyway, simply because they did not use the belts. They felt no need to "buckle up," because they never identified with the possibility of being in an accident themselves. Unfortunately, they did not live to benefit from learning that devastating possibility.
Ever since Eden, people have believed that they have life independent from God. The theory of evolution is simply an elaborate explanation to that effect. And the daily existence of atheists and churchgoers alike seems to substantiate such thinking. To find out that God is our only life source may be like discovering too late that we are not immune to traffic accidents.
Man should have perished in Eden. But God wasn't looking for statistics to prove Himself right. He desired that we might live! So He devised a plan whereby we could see what happens to us when we are separated from God yet live to benefit from the lesson. Incredibly, God would become one of us (2 Cor. 5:21)! By beholding Jesus, our substitute, we would discover that sin--separation from God--kills!
Men did not kill the Son of God. He hung upon a crude cross but He died because He experienced the consequences of sin for us. He cried out, "My God, my God, why did you forsake [leave] me?" However, He died knowing that He had accomplished what was needed. For He cried again with a loud voice, "It is finished!" (John 19:30, Phillips).
May I suggest that God did not kill Jesus, either? He simply allowed Jesus to bear the results of man's choice when he withdrew from God. As this happened Jesus cried out, and moments later He was dead. In the sacrificial services the sinner who brought a lamb offering killed it himself. The priest only caught the blood. The staggering truth is, man ultimately kills himself!
God pleads with us to come to our senses. "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die?" (Eze. 33:11, R.S.V.).
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