His Amazing Love....

The week leading up to Easter Sunday is what we as believers refer to as Holy Week. The days leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection, are marked by sacrifice and redemption. In the old testament the prophet Isaiah pinned an amazing picture of what our Jesus would do for us.

"'He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. '" - Isaiah 53:3-5

Take a moment and let that sink in. Through the grace, mercy, and amazing love of our God we are healed and made new. Jesus took upon himself our debt and our sin and shame and willingly went to the cross on our behalf, so that we could be healed and made whole. I feel like in our busy day-to-day life it can become so easy for us to forget about the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection.

The busyness of every day life takes precedent over the things that really matter. Like the fact that Jesus came to this earth and lived a humble life. He was fully human and fully God. He lived a sinless life and yet He paid the ultimate price so that you and I could have freedom and complete healing.

He took our debt and He paid it in full. Giving us life and life to the fullest, giving us the ability to walk in complete healing and freedom. Jesus made a way for us and in doing so He showed us His amazing love and His unending mercy. What a God!

Matthew 26-28 tells the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. I encourage you all to read these chapters. I want to look specifically at chapter 27, verses 11-26. Here we see Jesus standing trial before Pilate.

"'Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him. Jesus replied, “You have said it.” But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. But Jesus made no response to any of the charges, much to the governor’s surprise. Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted. This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas. As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.) Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.” Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death. So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?” The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!” Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!” Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!” And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!” So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. '" - Matthew 27:11-26

This passage paints a beautiful picture of the love of Jesus for us. He was innocent, like a spotless lamb and yet He was led to the slaughter. Taking the place of a criminal, Jesus was innocent and yet, He willingly took the place of Barabbas. What an amazing picture of the love of God.

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:21

As we go throughout this week I want to remind you of the amazing love of our God. He took on our sin and our debts so that we could have everlasting life. If that doesn't scream the love of God, I don't know what does!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16

Happy Holy Week and Happy Easter friends!

Much love friends,

Alianna