Message of Easter is ‘wondrous’
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Editor,
Here is the message of Easter in a simple sentence of four words: “Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The first two words state a historical fact: “Christ died.” The second two add the theological significance: “for us.”
Never were there four words more stupendous than these. That Jesus, God the Son, could die; would die; did die, stretches our human comprehension abilities to the limits. Nevertheless, the Bible states it simply and clearly; “Because God’s children are human beings, made of flesh and blood, the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.” (Hebrews 2:14 NLT)
The word “for” means “for the sake of”; Christ died for our sake. He died because of us. It was for our sin that He died. “For” also means “in behalf of”; He did something in our behalf which we could never have done for ourselves. Thirdly, “for” means “instead of”; yes, that’s right; He was on the cross in our place, as our substitute, paying the penalty for our sin. Think of it once again, “Christ died for us”; for our sake; in our behalf; and even in our very place.
What it cost Him we can never know. Isaac Watts grasped at the enormity of what Christ’s death on the cross means when he wrote: “When I survey the wondrous Cross.”
He could not have chosen a truer adjective than “wondrous”; in every sense of the word,
Christ’s death on the cross for us is wondrous. “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Harvey A. Town
Polson
