My Daddy was a national champion wrestler – in fact, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Anyway, that’s another story, but what I’m thinking about right now are those times when I was a little girl and I would love to go down to the Baltimore YMCA and watch my Daddy grapple an opponent on the mat. We’d be up there in the stands, us kids, my Daddy would take me and my sisters to the Y and we’d sit on the bleachers and cheer on Daddy and my uncles – none of them were really my uncles, they were all Daddy’s wrestling buddies, but it sure was fun to watch my father wrestle Uncle Don. Although Uncle Don was a lot bigger than Daddy, my father would invariably pin him with time to spare and I’d giggle because he was always the one to cry “uncle!”
I’m sure you’ve got an image in your mind of that story I just told – a wrestler pinning his opponent to the mat. Well, keep that image in your head for a minute, because this often the way we picture Christ and God the Father. When it comes to quieting God's anger against sin, some believers imagine Jesus wrestling his angry Father to the floor of heaven until the Father yells “uncle!” But the Son of God did not force the Father to be merciful to you and me. The death of Jesus was not the begrudging consent of God, “Okay, okay, I’ll be lenient to sinners.” It’s not like God grumbled, “I tell you what, you people, if it weren’t for Jesus, I’d give you insolent people a good licking!”
That’s not the way it is at all. Because the cross was not Jesus’ idea. It was the Father’s idea. 2 Timothy 1:9 says that before the foundation of the world, God the Father conceived of the brilliant, breathtaking plan to involve his Son in rescuing sinners. It’s wrong to think that God the Father was dead-set on obliterating sinners; that is, until Jesus stepped in and offered himself on the cross as a solution. No, it was planned by the Blessed Trinity from before the beginning of time. And it was all inspired by the love of the Father, the obedience of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Oh my goodness, what a wonder the love of God truly is! It is not syrupy or sentimental. Rather, the love of God is rugged and awe-inspiring, terrible and astounding! The death of Jesus Christ appeased the wrath of God at the same time it served as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ponder that. I would like you to take the rest of the day or evening to think about that complex and utterly complete love that God has toward you. The cross was the Father’s idea… the Son followed through on it… and the Holy Spirit applies it to us – can you believe it? – to us.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
www.joniandfriends.org
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