Easter is a few days away. This morning, I read the gospel of John. Jesus is praying to God for us. Jesus prays that the world knows God sent him to earth. Jesus prays that the world will know that God loves us, like he loved Jesus.
It a powerful message to say that God loves us, like he loves his son. God is our Father in heaven. In the Old Testament, God tested Abraham to see if he would kill his son Isaac. I always wondered why God did this, and now I understand. Abraham loved his only son from his wife Sarah. They waited years to have this son. God answered their prayers and fulfilled his promise when Isaac was born to Sarah in her old age, well past the child bearing age. God tested Abraham to see if he would do his will, even if he didn’t understand it. Abraham was going to do God’s will, but God sent an angel and stopped him from harming his son. God didn’t make Abraham sacrifice his son.
God sacrificed his beloved son for us.
God gave us his only son, Jesus. God let Jesus die on the cross to forgive our sins. Imagine the sorrow and rage that we would feel if that was our child. We are all God’s children, so God let Jesus die, so we all could be free. Jesus knew that he would fulfill the scriptures, die and be raised from the dead and live eternally in heaven. Jesus still had to walk through it. The pain. The torture. The humiliation. He did all of it for us.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
–John 17:20-26 (NKJV)
Jesus prays to God and says the world has not known him, but Jesus knows God. Jesus knew why he was sent to earth. Jesus prayed for us, “that the love with which You loved Me may be in them”. Jesus wanted us to know God’s love and feel it.
Embrace This Beautiful Life 