Recently I spent the day with a group of ladies from Desert Christian Fellowship. They had invited me to be their guest speaker. The theme for the day was Bold Women of the Bible – one of those women was Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I talked of how Mary stood at the foot of the cross and watched her Son die. Her innocent Son had been condemned to death, a horrible death . She was faithful and stayed by His side through it all. I was overcome with emotion as I talked to these ladies, I put myself in Mary’s place. As a mother, I could imagine the pain.
How her mother’s heart must have ached!
Now stop and think how much the Father’s heart must have ached while Jesus hung on the cross? A Father whose whole character is love saw His Son brutally murdered. He could have rescued his Son but He didn’t.
God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son, knew that a perfect sacrifice was required to redeemed mankind from their sin. That sacrifice would be Jesus.
“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ERV
His heart was aching as His Son was being tortured but because of His love for us He didn’t intervene.
“Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.” Romans 5:6-8 ERV
God’s heart, his character, is pure love. His heart ached because sin separated Him from those He loves, from us. Don’t ever think it wasn’t heartbreaking for the Father to experience His Son’s death, it was. He endured it because of His unconditional love for us.
“ Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven.” I John 4:10 CEV
He made a way to give us new life, to see us redeemed, it was the way of the cross! That’s God’s heart!